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THE WEST 



7 . ' 
THE WEST 



ITS 



COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. 



BY JAMES HALL. J M<^^-^S^6 



CINCINNATI: 

H. W. DERBY & CO., PUBLISHERS. 

1848. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, 

BY JAMES HALL, 

in the Clerk's Office for the District Court of Ohio. 



MORGAN AND OVEREND, PRINTERS, 
CINCINNATI. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



The dignity and usefulness of commerce, exemplified in the 
history of the Western states — anecdotes of the first settlers, 

Page 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Navigation of Western rivers — great extent of it — connections 
with the ocean — with the Atlantic states — with the lakes — the 
great highway, ----- 26 

CHAPTER III. 

Same subject continued — considered in reference to its political 
bearing, and to the interest and convenience of the govern- 
ment — action of states in regard to it — ordinance of 1787 — ■ 
states have no jurisdiction over it, - - - 41 

fO 

^ CHAPTER IV. 
t 

nO The floods of the Ohio— the flood of 1847— its effects at Cincin- 

' nati — snags — losses by snags — snag boats. - - 53 

CHAPTER V. 

v Sandbars — description of them — plans for removing, and for pass- 

ing them — by wing dams — by siackwater — by dredging ma- 



^ chines — by side-locks . - - - 66 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Louisville and Portland Canal — its insufficiency — a tax on com- 
merce — plans for improving — amount of tolls — new canal 
proposed— ^Captain Cram's report, - - - 77 

CHAPTEPv. VII. 

Upper and Lower Rapids of the Mississippi — growth of that 
country — its trade — lead trade — iron and copper. - 95 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Western steamboats — origin and early history — James Rumsey, 
John Fitch — some account of the first boats — explosions — list 
of boats to 1832, ----- 105 

CHAPTER IX. 

Same subject continued — Western boats down to 1843 — cost and 
expenses of boats — model and tonnage — tonnage of the West, 

166 

CHAPTER X. 

Same subject continued — improvement in construction — explo- 
sions — explosion of the Moselle, - - - 174 

CHAPTER XI. 

Commerce of the Western rivers — estimated value of imports 
and exports prior to 1842 — imports into New Orleans by river — 
manufactures of the West — resources — ^products— wheat — 
corn — tobacco — live stock — interior commerce, - 189 

CHAPTER XII. 

Same subject continued — Lt. Col. Abert's report — tonnage of tlio 
West — of the Lakes — Cincinnati Memorial, - 202 

CHAPTER XIIL 

Same subject continued — increase of commerce — trade of the 
Ohio — trade of Pittsburgh — of Cincinnati — of St. Louis — ap- 
propriations by Congress, - - - - 215 



CONTENTS. -Vll 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Western cities — French towns — Lake cities — commerce of the 
lakes — Chicago — Detroit — Cleveland — other towns, 226 

CHAPTER XV. 

Western cities — manufactures — Wheeling — Pomeroy — Louis- 
ville, Nashville, St. Louis — trade to St. Louis — commerce of 
Louisville, ------ 243 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Cincinnati in 1826— its trade and manufactures — growth — Cov- 
ington and Newport, _ _ > _ 263 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Cincinnati — advantages for manufacturing — best site for an 
armory — water power — iron — coal — provisions — facilities for 
a large manufacturing city — list of manufactures — railroads — 
railroad iron — cotton goods, - . _ 373 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Same subject continued — resources of Cincinnati — facilities for 
business — soundness of her business — banks — capital — high 
credit of her merchants, - - - - 306 



THE WEST. 



CHAPTER I. 

The dignity and usefulness of Commerce, exemplified in the 
history of the Western States. 

In estimating the relative standing- and influence of the 
different classes of our population, there are, I think, two 
very grave mistakes usually committed: one of which 
assigns the highest place in the scale of merit to manual 
labor, while the other disdains, as low and coarse, all that 
partakes of physical exertion; — by the one class, the far- 
mer, the laborer, and the mechanic, are lauded as wield- 
ing the creative power by which all the elements of wealth 
are brought into existence, by the other the members of 
the learned professions are revered as the depositories of 
all knowledge, the makers and arbiters of public opinion; 
and these respective classes have been courted and flat- 
tered, by those who have sought to rise upon the breath 
of popular favor. 

The truth lies, I suppose, between these extremes. 
While we concede to the hard hand of labor a vast 
amount of power, utility, and consequent influence, and 
grant to intellect and education the force of a mighty- 
lever, it will require but little reflection to satisfy us, that 
the resources of this country are controlled chiefly by that 
class, which, in our peculiar phraseology, we term "the 
1 



2 USEFULNESS OF COMMERCE. 

business community" — embracing all tbose who are en- 
gaged in the great occupations of buying and selling, ex- 
changing, importing and exporting merchandise, and 
including the banker, the broker, and the underwriter. 
In a population so active as ours, and spread over so wide 
an expanse of territory, with lands so prolific, a climate 
so diversified, productions so various, mineral treasures so 
vast, and facilities for interior navigation so great, the pur- 
suit of commerce must form a prominent occupation. The 
commercial and fiscal concerns of such a people cannot 
be otherwise than important. I have no hesitation in as- 
serting that they employ more of the wealth, the industry, 
and the intellect, of the American people, than all other 
employments and professions united. Vast, and vastly 
diversified, they extend to every place, and are interwoven 
with every occupation. Commerce is limited only by the 
boundaries of civilized intercourse. Wherever men con- 
gregate in social life it is there; in the most obscure ham- 
let it is found among the first elements of the most simple 
form of society; in the proudest metropolis, it employs 
the highest energies of the human intellect, and is seen 
in the most magnificent displays of wealth and power. 
The^vast navies that circumnavigate the globe are her's, 
great cities acknowledge her sway, her merchants are 
princes, the revenues of mighty nations are under her 
control. She is the arbitress of war and peace. 

Under the influence of that fell spirit of demagoguism 
which has swept over our land, it has become fashionable 
to flatter the agricultural and laboring classes, because 
they are the most numerous, and wield the greatest 
power at the ballot boxes; while a systematic effort has 
been made, to decry the merchant and the banker, and to 
stigmatise their business as inimical to the liberty and 



FALSE VIEWS OF COMMERCE. d 

prosperity of the country. We might pass over these 
incendiary doctrines with the contempt they deserve, if it 
were it not for the wide spread mischief which they 
work, by deluding, to their own injury, the numerous 
classes whom they are intended to cajole and flatter. The 
laborer and mechanic are taught to dislike the banker, 
whose means furnish them with daily employment, and 
the farmer's mind is diligently imbued with a settled 
hatred for the merchant, without whose assistance his 
crops would rot upon the field. The prosperity of the 
country, its peace, its character, and its credit, are deeply 
affected by the too successful influence of these wretched 
intrigues. The masses are imbued with the opinion that 
wealth and poverty, commerce and labor, education and 
the want of education, constitute hostile interests; and the 
legislative halls are disgraced by an abject subserviency 
to those prejudices, which has banished justice, and patrio- 
tism, and manly freedom of thought, from that high sanc- 
tuary of sovereign power. Even the bench has not been 
free from these pernicious opinions, and demagogues 
have been found so hardened and so daring, as to carry 
into that sacred tribunal, the profligate pledge of party 
obedience, and to consummate there the atrocious pros- 
cription of individuals and classes. 

It appears, by the census of 1840, that the number of 
persons in Ohio, engaged in Commerce, in Agriculture, 
and in Mechanical Labors and Trades, was as follows: 

. In Agriculture, 272,579 

Manufactures, Mechanics, and Trades, - 66,265 
In Commerce, ----- 9,201 

By this showing it appears that the disparity between 
these classes is very great, that the oppression attempted 
to be practised by the many over the few, is at least safe 



4 ADVANTAGES OF COMMERCE. 

to the agents employed in the experiment, and that how- 
ever abject and unjust, however repugnant to the constitu- 
tional principles of equality and democracy, such appeals 
to the prejudices of the mass may be, the demagogues 
who use them, do so in the confidence of an impunity 
guarantied by an odds of thirty to one in their favor. 

The streams of water which afford beneficent supplies 
of that necessary element to our city, are distributed by 
the force of a powerful engine. Situated at a distance, 
and silently performing its appointed office, its gigantic 
action is unobserved by the mass of human beings who 
enjoy the benefits of its incessant labor — who derive 
refreshment, comfort, health, and perhaps life itself, from 
its operations. Through the agency of that powerful 
machine, the healthful current circulates throughout all 
the avenues of the city; it is present in. every street, it is 
used in every dwelling; yet the agent, that distributes a 
blessing so universal and indispensable, is by no means 
obvious to the casual observer. It is so with commerce; 
though its advantages are pre-eminent, and widely dif- 
fused, the number engaged in this profession is so small, 
in comparison with the aggregate of society, and their 
transactions, especially those of the greatest magnitude, 
attract so little attention, that the observation of the public 
is not awakened to a just appreciation of the mercantile 
character. 

We might, indeed, appeal to the annals of the world, 
from the earliest times, to show that commerce has always 
led the van, in the great march of human improvement — 
in the discovery of new countries — in promoting the inter- 
course between nations — in affording employment to in- 
dustry and ingenuity — in promoting science and diffusing 
knowledge — in adding to social comfort — in the spread of 



ADVANTAGES OF COMMERCE. 5 

civilization and Christianity. I might refer to Greece and 
Rome, in the dark periods, when little else was regarded 
than fighting and the fine arts — to Venice and Genoa — to 
the brightest ages in the histories of Holland and of 
England — and to the whole history of America, from its 
discovery, until now, for proofs, that commerce is the 
most efficient agent of national prosperity. The occa- 
sion will not, however, allow me to enter upon so 
wide a field, and I shall confine myself to our own country, 
and to recent times. 

Allow me then to occupy a few minutes in presenting 
some of the prominent facts in our history, for the pur- 
pose of inquiring what are the obligations of the country, 
to the class of our citizens who are engaged in commer- 
cial pursuits; and I am sorry that the subject is so broad 
and so varied in its details, that it is impossible to do it 
justice in the brief space of a single discourse. 

The French, who first explored our northern frontier, 
ascended the great chain of lakes to Huron and Michigan, 
and afterwards penetrated through Lake Superior, to that 
remote wilderness, where the head branches of the St. 
Lawrence interlock with those of the Mississippi. Adopt- 
ing, and probably improving, the bark canoe of the na- 
tives, they were enabled to traverse immeasurable wilds, 
which nature had seemed to have rendered inaccessible to 
man, by floods of water at one season, and masses of ice 
and snow at another, by the wide spread lakes, and ponds, 
and morasses, which in every direction intercepted the 
journey by land, and by the cataracts and rapids, which 
cut off the communication by water. All difficulties 
vanished before the efficiency of this little vessel: its 
wonderful buoyancy enabled it, though heavily freighted, 
to ride safely over the waves of the lakes, even in bolster- 



b COMMERCE IN THE EARLY SETTLEMENT. 

ous weather ; its slender form and lightness of draught 
permitted it to navigate the smallest streams, and pass the 
narrowest channels; while its weight was so little, that it 
was easily carried on the shoulders of men from one 
stream to another. Thus when these intrepid navigators 
found the river channel closed by an impassable barrier, 
the boat was unloaded, the freight, which had previously 
been formed into suitable packages for that purpose, was 
carried round the obstruction by the boatmen, the boat 
itself performed the same journey, and then was again 
launched in its proper element. So, also, when a river 
had been traced up to its sources, and no longer furnished 
sufficient water for navigation, the accommodating bark 
canoe, like some amphibious monster, forsook the nearly 
exhausted channel, and traveled across the land to the 
nearest navigable stream. By this simple but admirable 
contrivance, the fur trade was secured, the great continent 
of North America was penetrated to its centre, through 
thousands of miles of wilderness, and a valuable staple 
brought to the marts of commerce. If we regard that 
little boat as the means of bringing to market this great mass 
of the treasures of the wilderness, we may well remark, 
that never was an important object effected by means so 
insignificant. But the human labor, and peril, and ex- 
posure — the courage, the enterprise, and the skill employ- 
ed, were far from insignificant. The results were great. 
Besides the vast trade which was developed, the interior 
of a great continent was explored, the boundaries between 
two empires were traced out and incidentally established, 
an intercourse with the Indian tribes was opened, and 
valuable facts were added to the treasures of science. 
And all this was accomplished, not by the power of an 
empire, not by the march of a conqueror impelled by 



THE EARLY SETTLERS. / 

military ambition or the lust of conquest — not by a lavish 
expenditure of money, or the shedding of human blood — 
but by the action of humble individuals acting under the 
great stimulus of commercial enterprise. 

Turning our attention to another part of the great 
theatre of early adventure, we see the bold explorers, 
crossing from the Lakes to the Mississippi, passing down 
and up that river, tracing its gigantic course from the 
Gulf of Mexico to the Falls of St. Anthony — erecting 
forts, planting settlements, and, in short, establishing a 
chain of posts and colonies, extending from the mouth of 
the Mississippi, westward of the British Colonies, to the 
mouth of the St. Lawrence. The adventurers to Loui- 
siana sought the precious metals ; imaginary mines of 
gold and silver allured them across the ocean, led them 
to brave the terrors- of the climate and the wilderness, 
and sustained them under the greatest extremes of toil and 
privation. Though disappointed in the object of their 
search, they became the founders of an empire, they ex- 
plored and developed the resources of the country, they 
led the way to that flood of emigration which has been 
gradually filling up the land, and scattered the germs of 
that prosperity which we see blooming around us, and 
promising harvests too great to be estimated. 

When the sagacious eye of Washington first beheld 
the country lying about the head waters of the Ohio, he 
saw and pointed out the military and commercial advan- 
tages which might be secured by its occupation. Had the 
annexation of this country to the American Colonies, or at 
a later period to the States, been made a political question, 
how various would have been the opinions, how deliber- 
ate the discussion, how slow the action, how uncertain 
the result ! But this splendid example of national 



8 FIRST SETTLERS COMMERCIAL. 

aggrandizement was not achieved by the wisdom of states- 
men, nor by the valor of armies. No sooner had a few 
daring pioneers settled in the wilderness, than the eager 
spirit of trade, ever on the watch for new fields of ad- 
venture, discovered the rich promise of gain offered by a 
region so wide and so fertile. Commerce did not then, 
nor in any instance, in the settlement of our country, wait 
until "grim visaged war had smoothed his wrinkled 
front," as is supposed to be her usual custom. However 
pacific in her tendencies, she did not shrink from a full 
participation of the perils of this glorious adventure. 
Following the footsteps of the pioneers, she came with 
the advance of the army of population. 

The first settlements in the West were made by the 
backwoodsmen from Virginia and North Carolina, who 
were soon after followed by those of Pennsylvania and 
Maryland. New Jersey came next in the order of popu- 
lation; and from these sources originated that gallant 
band of pioneers who explored the country, drove back 
the savage, and opened the way for civilization. They were 
a daring, a simple, and an honest people, whose history 
is full of romance — but it is not with the romance of his- 
tory that we have now to do. Simple and frugal as they 
were in their habits, they were still civilized men — 
branches of the great social circle whose centre glowed 
with the brightest refinements of life — and they had some 
artificial wants beyond the mere fruits of the earth and 
the products of the chase — while the country abounded 
in the crude materials which promised an abundant sup- 
ply of articles for barter. 

Wherever there is a prospect of gain, there will the ad- 
venturous feet of commerce thread their way, however 
dreary the path, however difficult or dangerous the road. 



FIRST SETTLERS COMMERCIAL. 9 

While the whole Alleghany ridge was still an unbroken 
mass of wilderness, trains of pack-horses might be seen 
climbing the mountain sides, by the winding bridle-path, 
threading the meanders of the valleys and gorges, tremb- 
ling on the brinks of precipices, and sliding down the 
declivities, which scarcely afforded a secure footing' to 
man or beast. They were laden with merchandise for 
traffic. The conductors were men inured to all the hard- 
ships which beset the traveler in the wilderness — men who 
united the craft of the hunter to the courage and the dis- 
cipline of the soldier. For the road they traveled was 
the war-path of the Indian — it was the track that had 
been beaten smooth by the feet of them that sought the 
blood of the white man, and who still lurked in the way, 
bent on plunder and carnage. There was no resting 
place, no accommodation, no shelter. Throughout the 
day they plodded on, through the forest, scaling steep ac- 
clivities, fording rivers, enduring all the toils of an arduous 
march, and encamping at night in the wilderness; observ- 
ing the precaution and the discipline of a military party 
in a hostile country. These were merchants, carrying 
their wares to the forts and settlements of the West ; they 
were the pioneers of that commerce which now employs 
the wealth and controls the resources of an empire. They 
deserve a high place among the founders of Western set- 
tlements, as they furnished the supplies of arms, ammuni- 
tion, clothing, and other necessaries, which enabled the 
inhabitants of the frontier to sustain themselves against 
the hostilities of numerous tribes of Indians, incited to 
war by British influence, and supplied with the imple- 
ments and appliances of savage warfare, by the agents 
of the same humane and enlightened people. 

The first boats used in the navigation of the Western 



10 STEAMBOATS. 

rivers, were the flat boat, the keel, and the barge the first 
of which was only used in descending with the current, 
while the two latter ascended the streams, propelled_^labor- 
iously by poles. Navigating long rivers whose shores 
were still infested by hostile savages, the boatmen were 
armed, and depended for safety upon their caution, and 
their manhood. Mike Fink, the last of the boatmen, 
was an excellent marksman, and was as proud of his abil- 
ity to defend his boat, as of his skill to conduct it through 
the rapids and windings of the navigation. The Indians, 
lurking along the shore, used many stratagems to decoy 
the passengers and crews of the boats to land, and those 
who were unsuspicious enough to be thus deceived, fell 
an easy prey to the marauder. Under the best circum- 
stances these boats were slow, and difficuk to manage, the 
cost of freight was enormous, and the means of commu- 
nication uncertain. 

The application of steam power to the purposes of nav- 
igation, forms the brightest era in the history of this coun- 
try. It is that which has contributed more than any other 
event or cause, to the rapid growth of our population, and 
the almost miraculous development of our resources. We 
need not pause to inquire whether the honor of the inven- 
tion be due to Fitch, to Rumsey, or to Fulton, — for that 
inquiry is not involved in the discussion in which we are 
now engaged. But if we seek for the efficient patron of 
this all powerful agent in the West — for the power that 
adopted, fostered, improved, and developed it — from an 
unpromising beginning, through discouragement, failure, 
disappointment — through peril of life, vast expenditure of 
money, and ruinous loss, to the most complete and bril- 
liant success — we are again referred to the liberal spirit 
of commercial enterprise. Science pointed the way, but 



STEAMBOATS. 11 

she did no more; it was the weahh of the Western mer- 
chant, and the skill of the Western mechanic, that wrought 
ought the experiment to a successful issue. The first fruits 
of the enterprise were far from encouraging; failure after 
failure attested the numerous and embarrassing difficulties 
by which it was surrounded. For although all the early 
boats were capable of being propelled through the water, 
and ahhough the last was usually better than those which 
preceded it, it was long a doubtful question, whether the 
invention could be made practically useful upon our Wes- 
tern rivers; and it was not until five years of experiment, 
and the building of nine expensive steamboats, that the 
public mind was convinced by the brilliant exploit of the 
Washington^ which made the trip from Louisville to New 
Orleans and back in forty-five days. 

The improvements in this mode of navigation since 
then have been surprising. The voyage from New Or- 
leans to Louisville has been made in less than six days. 
The trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans and back is 
made easily in two weeks. During the high water, in 
the spring of 1846, the trip from Pittsburgh to Cincin- 
nati was made in twenty-seven hours, and the packet boats 
between these places have now regular days and hours 
of departure. 

Explosions and other destructive casualties have be- 
come rare, and the navigation is now safe, except only 
from obstructions existing in the channels of the rivers. 
All that skill, enterprise, and public spirit could do, to 
bring this navigation to perfection, has been done by the 
liberal proprietors of steamboats. The wealth of individ- 
uals has been freely contributed, while that of the govern- 
ment has been withheld with a degree of injustice which 
has scarcely a parallel in the annals of civilized legisla- 



12 EARLY COMMERCE. 

tion. The history of man does not exhibit a spectacle of 
such rapid advancement in population, wealth, industry, 
and refinement, such energy, perseverance, and enlight- 
ened public spirit on the part of individuals, as is exhibited 
in the progress of the western people — nor of so parsi- 
monious and sluggish a spirit as that evinced towards us 
by the government. All that we have, and are, are our 
own, created by ourselves, unaided by a government to 
whose resources and power we are now the largest con- 
tributors. We build and maintain a fleet of five hundred 
steamboats, bearing annually a freightage of more than 
two hundred millions of dollars — while we are subjected 
to an immense yearly loss of life and property, from the 
narrow and unwise refusal of the government to make a 
comparatively small expenditure to remove obstructions 
from the channels of rivers, over which it has the sole 
jurisdiction. 

By our own unaided exertions we have now actively 
emplo^red, in the transportation of passengers and mer- 
chandise, more than five hundred steamboats, worth ten 
millions of dollars, having the capacity of one hundred 
thousand tons, and plying upon a connected chain of river 
navigation of twelve thousand miles in extent. 

The value of the exports and imports, floating on the 
western waters annually, has been estimated at two hun- 
dred and twenty millions of dollars, consisting of the pro- 
ducts of our soil and manufactures on the one hand, and 
of the fabrics of foreign countries upon the other, all 
bought with the money of our merchants, and by them 
thrown into the channels of trade. 

If the mercantile class had rendered no other service to 
our country, than that of introducing and fostering the 
agency of steam, in navigation and manufactures, they 



THE PIONEERS. 13 

would have entitled themselves to more lasting gratitude 
and honor, than the most illustrious statesman or hero has 
ever earned from the justice and the enthusiasm of his 
country. 

Previous to the year 1817, the whole commerce from 
New Orleans to the upper country was carried in about 
twenty barges, averaging one hundred tons each, and 
making but one trip in the year, so that the importations 
from New Orleans, in one year, could not have much 
exceeded the freight brought up by one of our largest 
steamboats in the course of a season. On the upper 
Ohio, there were about one hundred and fifty keelboats, 
of about thirty tons each, which made the voyage from 
Pittsburgh to Louisville and back in two months, or 
about three such trips in the year. That was but thirty 
years ago, and need I' pause to inquire what would have 
been the probable condition of our country, at this time, 
had our commerce continued to be dependant upon such 
insufficient means of conveyance.'' 

The pioneers were a noble race, and well did they dis- 
charge the part assigned them. They led the way into 
the wilderness. They scaled the ramparts of the Alle- 
ghany mountains, that seemed to have been erected as 
barriers against the footsteps of civilized men. They 
beat back the savage and possessed the country. Their 
lives were full of peril and daring; their deeds are replete 
with romance. 

The farmers, who have subdued the wilderness, are 
hardy and laborious men, who have been well designated 
as the bone and muscle of the country. They have cheer- 
fully encountered obstacles from which a less resolute body 
of men would have shrunk in despair, and have won the 



14 VALUE OF COMMERCE. 

fruitful fields which they possess through toils and dan- 
gers such as rarely fall to the lot of the husbandman. 

But without detracting from the merits of either of 
these classes, w^hat would this country have been now, 
without commerce? Suppose its rural population had 
been left to struggle with the wilderness without the aid 
of the numberless appliances which have been brought 
to their doors by the spirit of trade, to what point would 
their population and their prosperity have risen? With- 
out money, without steamboats, canals, railroads, turnpikes, 
and other facilities for transportation, what would have 
been the destiny of our broad and fertile plains? Desert 
and blooming, they would have sustained a scattered popu- 
lation, rich in flocks and herds — a roaming, pastoral peo- 
ple, whose numbers would have grown by the natural 
increase; while the country would have remained unim- 
proved, and its rich resources locked in the bosom of the 
earth. But commerce camej bringing them a market for 
their products, offering rich rewards to industry, and stimu- 
lating labor to the highest point of exertion. She brought 
with her money, and the various representatives of money, 
established credit, confidence, commercial intercourse, uni- 
ted action, and mutuality of interest. Through her in- 
fluence the forests were penetrated by roads, bridges were 
thrown over rivers, and highways constructed through 
dreary morasses. Traveling was rendered easy and trans- 
portation cheap. Through this influence the earth was 
made to yield its mineral treasures; iron, lead, copper, 
coal, salt, saltpetre, and various other products of the mine, 
have been taken from our soil, and brought into common 
use. Our agricultural products have increased, and are 
daily and hourly increasing, in variety and value; while 
in every village is seen the smoke of the manufactory, 



VALUE OF COMMERCE. 15 

and heard the cheerful sounds of the engine and the 
hammer. 

Such have heen the trophies of commerce ; and still the 
same salutary spirit is abroad in our land. There is no 
page in 'the history of our country more surprising, or 
richer in the romance of real life, than that which depicts 
the adventures and the perils of the traders and trap- 
pers in the wilderness beyond our Western frontier. Lea- 
ving St. Louis in large parties, well mounted and armed, 
they go forth with the cheerfulness of men in pursuit of 
pleasure. Yet their whole lives are full of danger, pri- 
vation, and hardship. Crossing the wide prairies, and 
directing their steps to the Rocky Mountains, they remain 
months and even years in those savage wilds, living in 
the open air, without shelter, with no food but such game 
as the wilderness affords, eaten without bread or salt, set- 
ting their traps for beaver and otter in the mountain 
streams, and fighting continually with the grizzly bear, 
and the Indian — their lives are a long series of warfare 
and watching, of privation and danger. These daring 
men secure to us the fur trade, while they explore the un- 
known regions beyond our borders, and are the pioneers 
in the expansion of our territory. 

So, too, of the caravans which annually pass from St. 
Louis across the great plains to Santa Fe. Their pur- 
pose is trade. They carry large amounts of valuable 
merchandise to the Mexican dominions, and bring back 
rich returns. But like the trapper, they go armed for 
battle, and prepared to encounter all the dangers of the 
wilderness. And here, too, we see the spirit of trade ani- 
mated by an intelligent enterprise, and sustained by a 
daring courage, and an invincible perseverance. 

There are many persons still living who bear in their 



16 COMMERCE A CONQUEROR. 

memories the records of the last fifty years, so fraught 
with those momentous events, which have disturbed the 
repose of the w^orld, or advanced the progress of man. 
The rise of Napoleon, the expansion of that gigantic 
military power, which had nearly conquered Europe, the 
lavish expenditure of blood and treasure, by that mighty 
conqueror, that man of brilliant genius and stubborn will, 
are still recent events. Within that period, kingdoms 
were overrun, nations conquered, crowns transferred; — 
and who can forget the pomp, the circumstance, the ter- 
ror, the dreadful carnage, that attended those great na- 
tional changes? 

Within the same period, the great plain of the Missis- 
sippi was a wilderness, embracing a few feeble and widely 
scattered colonies. Here also arose a mighty conqueror, 
more powerful than an army with banners. A vast region 
has been overrun and subdued. The mountains have 
been scaled — the hills have been leveled, and the valleys 
filled up, and the rough ways made smooth, to admit the 
ingress of the invaders. The land has been taken. A 
broad expanse, extending over twelve degrees from North 
to South, and ten degrees from East to West, has been 
rescued from the dominion of nature, and from the hand 
of the savage, and brought under subjection to the laws 
of social subordination. A population of seven millions 
has been planted upon the soil. Cities have grown up 
on the plains, the fields are rich with harvests, and the 
rivers bear the rich freights of commerce. This has 
nearly all been effected without the horrors of war, with- 
out national violence, without the domestic affliction usu- 
ally attendant on the train of conquest. The conquests 
of the warlike Emperor have vanished, and his greatness 
perished like an airy fabric: while a commercial people. 



BANKS^ AS AIDS TO COMMERCE. 17 

using only pacific means, have gained an empire whose 
breath and wealth might satisfy the ambition of even a 
Napoleon. They have gained it by labor, by money, 
and by credit — by the muscular exertion of the farmer 
and mechanic, aided by mercantile enterprise, and fiscal 
ability. 

The great West has no^ a commerce within its own 
limits, as valuable as that which floats on the ocean 
between the United States and Europe. In that wide 
land, where so lately the beaver and honey bee were the 
only representatives of labor, and a painted savage the 
type of manhood, we manufacture all the necessaries of 
life, letters and the fine arts are cultivated, and beauty and 
fashion bloom around us. 

We have, in the West and South- West, an incorporated 
banking capital of fifty millions of dollars, affording, with 
its circulation of notes, a capital of about one hundred 
millions of dollars for business; and however the dema- 
gogue may rail against these institutions, there can be no 
question, that their capital is so much actual power, 
wielded by the commercial class, for the benefit of the 
w^hole country. The poor may envy the rich the posses- 
sion of that of which they feel the want, the demagogue 
may decry credit, for the same reason, but the truth is that 
this country has grown rich through the money of banks, 
and the enterprise of merchants. The farmer has been 
the greatest gainer from the general prosperity. Com- 
merce has supplied money to purchase his products; the 
building of mills, the creation of roads, canals, and steam- 
boats, are due to the enterprise of commerce, but they 
bring a market to the farmer. The agricultural products, 
which but a few years ago were not worth the labor of 
2 



18 KAPID GROWTH OF COMMERCE. 

production, are now sources of wealth to the farmer — of 
vast aggregated weakh to the State. 

In 1795, when the troops of Wayne triumphed over a 
numerous Indian force, the whole territory of Ohio was 
a wilderness; now we have a population of two millions, 
actively engaged in the various pursuits of industry, a 
country rich in resources, highly improved, and inter- 
sected in every direction by turnpike roads, railroads, and 
canals; the aggregate extent of the artificial communi- 
cations made by the State being over fifteen hundred miles, 
and their cost more than fourteen millions of dollars. And 
these are not military roads, constructed by the patronage 
of the government, neither are they the highways of a 
rural people, required for the purposes of social inter- 
course — they are the avenues of commerce, the arteries 
of our great commercial system, through which wealth 
and property circulate throughout the broad land, nour- 
ishing its prosperity into healthful and lusty vigor — 
created by the wants, the influence, and the wealth of 
commerce. 

Fifty years ago the national flag waved over a lone 
fortress surrounded by a few log huts, on the spot we now 
occupy. Around it was the unbroken forest, penetrated 
only by the war-path of the Indian, and the track of the 
buffalo. Standing upon the ramparts of that fort, the eye 
of the beholder would have rested on the pristine verdure 
of the luxuriant forest, and on the placid stream of the 
Ohio, seldom disturbed, even by the light craft which 
then floated on her bosom — his ear would have heard at 
dawn the martial notes of the reveille, and at night the 
hooting of the owl, and the savage bay of the prowling 
wolf Now we stand upon the same spot, in the centre 
of a populous city, surrounded by all the refinements of 



CINCINNATI. 19 

wealth and cultivation — a city numbering, with its sub- 
urbs, nearly one hundred thousand souls, and embracing 
a vast amount of the industry, the energy, and the excite- 
ment of business. Situated in the midst of a great agri- 
cultural region, with natural avenues, and artificial roads 
tending to it in every direction, it is unsurpassed as a mar- 
ket for the products of husbandry. The wonderful sta- 
tistics of one of our staples, have obscured the other ele- 
ments of our prosperity from observation, and we are 
known chiefly by the fame of the three hundred thousand 
hogs, packed annually, at our pork houses, for exporta- 
tion. Our exports of beef, flour, whisky, butter, and other 
provisions, are equally abundant, and the aggregate is so 
great, as to make this the greatest provision market in the 
world. But even this is but a part of our business. 
Among our population, we number ten thousand opera- 
tives engaged in manufacturing and the mechanic arts, 
who make a great variety of articles of wood, iron, brass, 
copper, tin, leather, cotton, wool, and other materials, ma- 
king in all about one hundred and fifty different and dis- 
tinct branches of manufacture, and the annual value of 
whose products is about twenty millions of dollars. 
Among these are an average of thirty steamboats, which 
are built annually at a cost of five hundred thousand 
dollars. 

The capital invested in commerce in this city is said to 
amount also to above twenty millions of dollars, so that 
our trade and manufactures bear nearly equal proportions 
to each other. 

The citizens of Cincinnati have shown great public 
spirit in the construction of railroads, turnpikes, and 
canals, leading into the city. There are now no less 
than sixteen principal avenues concentrating here, the 



20 



COMMERCIAL CHARACTER. 



aggregate length of which is one thousand one hundred 
and twenty-five miles, and which will have cost twelve 
millions of dollars when completed, a liberal portion of 
which has been subscribed by the city in its municipal 
character, and by public spirited citizens. All these were 
made for the transit of merchandise ; they were made by 
commercial enterprise and liberality, for the benefit of 
commerce. 

If I have been successful in showing that our pros- 
perity has resulted from the enterprise of individuals, it 
will be readily seen that we owe it chiefly to the commer- 
cial class. Not that I would claim for them the sole 
honor, or deny the merits of others, for this would be as 
unreasonable as the fabulous dispute between the body 
and the limbs. I only place them in the foremost rank 
of an active, hardy, adventurous population, because, by 
controlling the wealth, the business, and the resources of 
the country, they have been the chief agents in its rapid 
aggrandizement. 

Such being the sphere and influence of the merchant, 
we feel at liberty to call the attention of the intelligent 
class, who exercise that profession, to a very interesting 
point connected with that subject. It is one of paramount 
importance, and should receive a much more attentive 
consideration than can be given to it incidentally, in this 
place. As a body they have been traduced and pro- 
scribed, their interests neglected, and their rights invaded, 
by those who sway the political power of the country. 
The industrious and enterprising are not popular with the 
demagogues, who seek to live upon the favor of the peo- 
ple without enterprise or industry. The honest and 
laborious man of business has no sympathies in common 
with the mere politician, the party hack. But though 



COMMERCIAL CHARACTER. 2l 

thus decried, the mercantile body have the possession of a 
vast amount of property, the direction of varied transac- 
tions, pervading every part of the land, and an influence 
which, though indirect, is very great. 

What should be the character of those who act so im- 
portant a part in the. business of the country, who con- 
trol its resourses, direct its energies, and in a great degree 
form the moral standard which regulates the transactions 
of the whole people? The mercantile mind of our 
country is sufficiently keen. The pursuit of wealth, 
attracting as it does intellects of every grade, includes 
among its votaries many of the most aspiring and most 
capable minds ; and gives to them that constant and 
healthy exercise, which is calculated to sharpen the fac- 
ulties, and if united with reading and reflection, produces 
a high degree of refinement. The merchant should cul- 
tivate his mind, and acquire knowledge, as an element of 
power. Dealing in the products of various climes, and 
of all the arts, and engaged in an intercourse, personally 
or by correspondence, which extends to all the marts of 
traffic throughout the world, he should be well acquainted 
with the geography of the globe, and with the produc- 
tions, resources, habits, financial systems, and commercial 
usages of all nations. He should know thoroughly the 
composition and history, the mode of production, cost, 
and all other incidents, connected with every article in 
which he deals ; and should be versed especially in the 
moneys and measures, the exchanges, the commercial 
laws and regulations, of the various places to which his 
business relations extend. This much we insist upon, as 
actually necessary to the respectability of the mercantile 
character, and to enable the merchant to wield his capital 
to advantage. 



22 COMMERCIAL CHARACTER. 

But the intelligent merchant should aspire to more than 
this. His position in society demands that he should 
place himself upon an equality with the most cultivated 
of his fellow citizens. As a class, the merchants are the 
most wealthy men of our country. In social intercourse 
they mingle with the most refined, with those who are 
highest in intellectual standing, and official position. 
There is no place in society, no post in the government, 
from which the merchant is excluded. On the contrary, 
his command of money, and the facilites afforded by his 
relations of business, place him in a prominent position, 
give him the control of the various commercial and 
moneyed institutions, and render him the fit and active 
director and agent in the whole circle of public charities, 
and in the numberless endowments for literary and liberal 
purposes. Having thus opened to him a wide sphere of 
usefulness, he should enter upon it with a consciousness 
of its dignity and importance, and qualify himself for the 
discharge of its duties, by an assiduous and a liberal cul- 
tivation of his mind and morals. 

The merchant should be a patron of the arts, a promo- 
ter of education, a friend of literature and science, an ac- 
tive agent in all public improvements; because his habits of 
business, his wealth, his connection with moneyed institu- 
tions, and with fiscal concerns, enable him to render effi- 
cient aid to enterprises of patriotism and benevolence. 
He should be forward in every good word and work, also, 
as a means of blunting that vulgar prejudice, which sup- 
poses that the men who possess or control weahh enjoy 
exclusive privileges; and should show a willingness to 
pay liberally for the advantages of his position, whether 
real or imaginary, by using those advantages freely for 
the public good. 



COMMEREIAL CHARACTER. 23 

There is another point, in regard to the commercial 
character, of greater delicacy, but which I do not feel at 
liberty to pass untouched, as it is the most essential to the 
honor and the prosperity of the mercantile class, as well 
as of the community to which they belong. The most 
precious posssession of the merchant is his credit. And 
here allow me to draw a distinction: the credit of the 
merchant does not consist simply in his wealth, or in his 
ability to borrow money by means of his connections, or 
of the securities he may be able to offer. It is a gross 
fallacy to suppose that what is termed an "undoubted 
standing," requires nothing for its support but the posses- 
sion o{ facilities lor raising money. The credit of a 
merchant depends mainly on his character for integrity, 
capacity, and industry. The true merchant is a man 
whose morality is as inflexible as the rules of arithmetic : 
his honesty is as invariable as the result of a correct 
balance-sheet. He should be not only honest, but strictly 
honorable, so that the confidence reposed in him should 
be unlimited. Such a man is trusted, not merely on ac- 
count of his wealth, but in consideration of his personal 
character. 

The commercial virtues are so essential to the well 
being of society, that their cultivation should be an object 
of sedulous care to the whole mercantile body, who 
should exercise a conservative influence by frowning upon 
every infraction of the laws of fair trading. Punctuality 
should be insisted upon as an indispensable requisite, and 
no man should be trusted or tolerated, who would forfeit 
his word, or violate his engagements. Society has a right 
to demand of all its members the observance of good 
faith, and it is only by insisting on this right that a whole- 
some public opinion is established. 



24 COMMERCIAL CHARACTER. 

Especially should the merchants of a city like ours, 
endeavor to establish a high tone of commercial charac- 
ter. They should set up a standard of strict and elevated 
morality, which every regular dealer and fair merchant 
would acknowledge to be just, and to which all should 
be required to adhere. They should patronise those vir- 
tues which adorn the individual character, which promote 
success in business, while they render its transaction safe 
and agreeable, and which are as beneficial as they are 
honorable to the community in which they flourish — in- 
dustry, honesty, temperance, and prudent economy; while, 
by inflexible rules, and strict observances, they should dis- 
countenance fraud, deception, trickery, and bad faith. 

When we speak of the rapid advancement of our coun- 
try to its present high state of prosperity, we are easily 
led by national vanity into the employment of high sound- 
ing words which do not always lead us to satisfactory con- 
clusions. Patriotism, public spirit, benevolence — liberty, 
education, the freedom of the press, our liberal institutions, 
the benign and pacific policy of our government, are 
referred to as causes of our national growth and aggran- 
disement. I shall not dispute the happy influence of all 
these principles. But there is one element in the national 
character, one principle of action animating the entire 
mass of our people, which is greater than any other; nay, 
I will be bold enough to assert more powerful than all 
others united. Whether it be called avarice, or the love 
of money, or the desire of gain, or the lust of wealth, or 
whether it be softened to the ear under the more guarded 
terms, prudence, natural affection, diligence in business, 
or the conscientious improvement of time and talents — it 
is still money-making which constitutes the great business 



COMMERCIAL CHARACTER. 25 

of the majority of our people — it is the use of money which 
controls and regulates every thing. 

Whether the propensity for money-getting is beneficial 
or otherwise, depends upon circumstances. Industry is 
an admirable quality; its exercise is directly useful to the 
public as well as to individual interests, and it is accom- 
panied by temperance, prudence, morality, and other vir- 
tues. But the desire of wealth, for its own sake, is far 
from being a virtue. Where money is greedily sought, 
without regard to the means of acquisition, and without 
liberality in its expenditure, the passion which directs its 
pursuit is base and sordid. The miser is a wretched man, 
a worthless citizen, a dishonor to the dignity of human 
nature. 

I am happy to believe that the acquisition of wealth 
does not necessarily, nor as I hope usually, blunt the sen- 
sibilities, nor destroy the manliness of a generous charac- 
ter — that it is not always a selfish and a mercenary occu- 
pation. If money be sought with moderation, by honora- 
ble means, and with a due regard to the public good, no 
employment affords exercise to higher or nobler powers 
of the mind and heart. And such should be the charac- 
ter of the merchant. He should guard his heart against 
the Seductive influence of money; he should carefully 
shield his mind against the narrow precepts of avarice. 
Money should be regarded as the agent and representative 
of the good it may be made to perform — it should be 
sought as the instrument of self-defence against the evils 
of poverty, of parental love, enabling us to provide for 
those dependent on us, of public spirit, in affording the 
means of promoting the public good. 
3 



26 NAVIGATION OF WESTERN RIVERS. 



CHAPTER II. 

The navigation of the Western rivers — its extent and impor- 
tance — its connections with the ocean, and the Atlantic States. 

The inhabitants of the Western and South Western 
States are deeply interested in the trade and navigation of 
the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Inhabiting a country 
of great magnitude, and unsurpassed fertility, rich in all 
the products of nature, and of unbounded resources, our 
commerce, already great, is daily swelling in value and 
mportance. The plain of the Mississippi, extending from 
the 29th to the 47th degree of North Latitude, em- 
braces not only all the productions of the temperate zone, 
but many of those of the frigid regions of the North, and 
of the sunny climate of the tropic ; so that those who in- 
habit the shores of this gigantic river and its tributaries, 
carry on already an interchange of domestic products and 
manufactures, which in itself constitutes a most extensive 
traffic, and includes a great variety of the staples of com- 
merce. But when to this is added all that we export to 
foreign markets, and import for home consumption, the 
variety and value of this immense internal trade will be 
found to assume an importance which should recommend 
it to the serious attention of the American people, and the 
National government. 

In estimating the importance of the navigation of the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers, it is necessary to invite at- 
tention to a few prominent facts, which we shall collect 



VAST AREA OF THE WEST, 27 

from the most authentic sources. The region drained by 
those rivers and their tributaries extends from the twenty- 
ninth to the forty-seventh degree of North Latitude, and 
from the Allegheny to the Rocky Mountains. Vast in its 
proportions; it is not less magnificent in its natural re- 
sources, facilities for commerce, and ability to support a 
numerous population. 

The valley of the Ohio, or the country drained by the 
river Ohio and its tributaries, embraces a territory of over 
one million square miles, or six-hundred and forty million 
acres, of land of unsurpassed fertility. This area exceeds, 
by several thousand square miles, that of Great Britain 
and Ireland, and is little less than that of France. The 
population of Great Britain and Ireland is twenty-six mil- 
lions, that of France thirty-three millions, and we have 
less unproductive land in this \'alley than in either of 
those countries, with agricultural and mineral resources 
equal to either. We can therefore support, in this valley, 
twenty-five millions of population in comfort and plenty. 

If the Avhole Mississippi valley had a population equal to 
that of Massachusetts, say eighty-two to the square mile, it 
would contain nearly one hundred millions souls, about six 
times the population of the United States at the last census, 
and one seventh of the probable population of the globe. 

The same region is ten times as large as Great Britain, 
and, if populated as densely as that island, would contain 
tv^ o hundred and twenty-two millions of inhabitants. 

The portion of that territory already inhabited, and or- 
ganised under civil government, may be stated, with suffi- 
cient accuracy, in round numbers, as embracing an ave- 
rage length from North to South of twelve degrees, and 
a breadth of ten degrees, which would give an area of 
four hundred and thirty-two thousand square miles. And 



28 VAST AREA OF THE WEST. 

it is worthy of remark, that such is the wonderful fer- 
tility of this country, its mineral wealth, its abundant 
resources, and its advantages of climate and navigation, 
and so great are the enterprise of its people, and the 
increase of population from abroad, that any rational 
statement of its limits or its wealth, founded upon evi- 
dence, must fall far short of the truth. . It is a new 
country, imbued with all the characteristics of a vigorous 
youth, and possessing extraordinary elements of expan- 
sion and improvement. Every day is extending its limits, 
filling up its vacant places, and developing its latent re- 
sources, and not a season passes which does not open some 
new. channel of commerce, or some hidden source- of 
wealth. Everything is growing and changing, ripening 
and increasing; and any collection of statistics, in regard 
to such a country, must fall far short of the reality, be- 
cause our data must be taken from the records of the past, 
and we must lose the accumulations which are rapidly 
growing up around us. 

The region in question is no less than the Great West, 
a wilderness fifty years ago, but now an important integral 
portion of a great nation. It contains eleven States and 
one Territory, and parts of two other States. The aggre- 
gate population, of all the States and Territories bordering 
on the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi, is eight 
million four hundred and thirty-seven thousand seven 
hundred and seventy-nine; or, if we include only one 
third of the population of Pennsylvania and Virginia, 
for the portion residing west of the Allegheny Moun- 
tains, we have an aggregate of six million four hundred 
and sixty-one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, 
which is a little over one third of the population of 
the United States. We approach the Congress of the 



ITS COMMERCIAL CONrv'ECTIONS. 29 

United States, then, with a claim in which, under the 
most narrow view of the subject, one third of the 
American people are obviously and directly interested, 
and in which a majority of the population of the Union 
are interested, if we include the whole of the inhabitants 
of the States which border on those rivers. But we hold 
this to be a very inadequate view of the question of inte- 
rest; for such is the magnitude of our trade, and the inti- 
macy of our relations with the Atlantic States, that there 
is scarcely a corner of the Union which is not bound to 
us, by a constant and reciprocal interchange of commercial 
advantages. Three of the Atlantic States have been en- 
gaged, for years, in rival exertions to secure the advan- 
tages of the Western trade, and have expended millions 
of treasure in the endeavor to attract that trade to their 
respective seaports. ' Another great State has recently em- 
barked in the same patriotic contest, with a spirit which 
shows how high an estimate is placed upon the prize. 
Which of these States is not directly interested, in the 
transportation of merchandise throughout the Avhole length 
of our Western rivers? Which of them can view with 
indifference a question that involves the facility, the safety, 
and the cheapness of navigation, upon these great chan- 
nels of commerce? After constructing, by the most lavish 
expenditure, railroads, turnpikes, and canals, leading to 
the West, does their pecuniary interest cease, and their 
patriotism die, at the termini of their gigantic works, and 
have they no further concern in the merchandise, or the 
passenger, which has passed their boundaries? These 
questions are easily answered. Those who purchase our 
products are interested in every tax upon our industry, and 
those who supply us with foreign merchandise or manu- 
factured articles that we consume, are concerned in all 



30 ITS COMMERCIAL CONNECTIONS. 

the facilities for transportation, by which their market is 
rendered accessible. Whatever affects the cost of freight 
and insurance, concerns all mutually, who participate in 
the interchange of commodities. 

Of the millions of property floating annually upon the 
western waters, much is owned directly by citizens of the 
Atlantic States, and of the hundreds of thousands of pas- 
sengers who crowd our steamboats, a vast number are in- 
habitants of those States, who are drawn hither by busi- 
ness, by curiosity, in the pursuit of pleasure, or in the 
search of a new home. The subject, then, is not one of 
local concern, or sectional character; and in asking Con- 
gress to expend a liberal portion of the public treasure, in 
removing the obstructions from our great Western high- 
ways, we believe that we represent the wants and interests 
not merely of eleven states and two territories, but of the 
American people. We invite the patronage of the nation, 
to a great central chain of National inter-communication, 
which pervades nearly the whole Union, having its con- 
nections with the Ocean, through Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans, and extending 
its advantages westwardly, throughout the wilderness, to 
the extreme frontier. 

Every tax upon the products of the country must be 
paid either by the producer or the consumer, or it must 
be divided between them, and whatever adds to the cost of 
our imports, it is so much taken in some shape from the 
pockets of the sell-er or buyer. Where these burthens 
are of such a character as to afford employment to a por- 
tion of our population, it is some consolation to know that 
what is taken from one class is given to another; but such 
is not the form of the tax upon our commerce which forms 
the subject of this memorial. We deplore the loss, the 



EXTENT OF NAVIGATION. 31 

Utter annihilation of property. "We deprecate the exis- 
tence of obstructions in our navigation, which cause 
unnecessary expense by delay, by destruction of property, 
by risk, and consequent precaution. All that is thus 
taken is so much wrested from the hand of industry and 
enterprise, and given to the devouring element. It is lost 
to the country. Individuals suffer more or less, but no 
one is a gainer. The destructive hurricane purifies the 
atmosphere, and the carcasses that moulder on the battle- 
field enrich the soil, but the wealth engulphed in the 
bosom of the waters yields no fruit, nor does the corpse 
of the hapless voyager mouldering in an obscure grave, 
on the borders of a western river, add a flower to the 
wilderness. 

The length of the rivers, which we propose to have 
improved at the national charge, is worthy of consider- 
ation. Without burthening this article with unnecessary 
details, upon a subject of general notoriety, we may state 
in round numbers, that the length of the Ohio from Pitts- 
burgh to its mouth is one thousand miles, and that the 
length of the Mississippi from the Falls of St. Anthony 
to the Ocean is two thousand miles, giving an extent of 
three thousand miles for the principal rivers, the improve- 
ment of which we ask, by the general government. But 
in showing the national character of this navigation, and 
its importance in comparison with that of the Ocean, we 
add for the navigable length of the Missouri three thou- 
sand miles, and for the aggregate navigable extent of all 
the tributaries which pour their freights into these prin- 
cipal rivers six thousand miles more, making the whole 
extent of navigation twelve thousand miles. The policy 
which would consider a connected chain of navigation of 
twelve thousand miles in extent, and spread over an area 



32 EXTENT OF NAVIGATION. 

of four hundred and thirty-two thousand square miles, of 
unexampled fertility and boundless resources, as of local 
or sectional interest, must be narrow indeed. But if we 
are to consider the extent of this navigation, in competi- 
tion with the line of the sea coast of the United States, for 
the purpose of vindicating our claim to a proportionate 
share of the protection of the Government, it will be ne- 
cessary to double its length, as our navigation has a double 
coast, and we have twenty-four thousand miles of river 
shore, inhabited by American citizens, who are as much 
interested in the trade of these rivers, as any portion of 
the American public in that of the Atlantic. 

Large as the interest would seem, which is indicated 
by these figures, it is even greater than we have stated. 
In order to form an adequate idea of the importance of 
these great rivers, as channels of commerce, we must em- 
brace in our view the whole of the great system of inter- 
communication of which they are only connecting links. 
They are but parts of a great whole — important fractions 
of a magnificent system. Their most obvious and direct 
connection is with the great northern lakes, a vast chain 
of inland seas, surrounded by a productive country, and 
already whitened by the sails of a most valuable com- 
merce. We cannot better illustrate the magnitude of this 
trade, than by quoting from a speech recently delivered 
in Congress by a member from Ohio. 

"Mr. Giddings attributed this neglect of Western com- 
merce to its silent and gradual growth. Until after the 
purchase of Louisiana it scarce had an existence, and the 
people on the seaboard had, even to this day, no adequate 
conception of its extent and importance. The American 
flag had first been raised on Lake Erie, within his per- 
sonal recollection, on board of a small schooner of seventy 



LAKE NAVIGATION. S3 

tons, in 1796. In 1802 the first Government vessel v^ras 
launched there. Previous to 1815, the arrivals at Buffalo, 
now the queen city of the Western Lakes, v^ere so few 
as not to be recorded — they were then three hundred and 
ninety-five — they now exceed four thousand. The first 
steamboat was built in 1818; there were now on Lake 
Erie alone sixty-four steamboats. After going to. some 
extent in these statistical details, Mr. Giddings, to give 
Southern gentlemen a more adequate conception of what 
the Western commerce really was, went on to state that 
in 1842 the State of Ohio alone had built vessels of a 
larger aggregate amount of tonnage than Virginia, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and 
Mississippi, with Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee in 
the bargain. Was a navigation like this entitled to no 
regard, no protection at the hands of Government? In- 
cluding ships, brigs, and craft of all descriptions, there 
were four hundred vessels now navigating these lakes 
above the Falls of Niagara, The first steamboat built at 
Chicago was in 1832; and in eleven years the tonnage 
of that port had grown up to one hundred and seventeen 
thousand tons. 

" On a lake coast exceeding five thousand miles, there 
had been bestowed by the government but $2,400,000, 
(while in the Delaware harbor alone it had spent 
$300,000.) Of this coast two hundred and forty miles 
belonged to the State of Ohio, and it had received but 
$423,000. Lake Erie had no natural harbor on all its 
southern coast, insomuch that Perry's fleet had to lie for 
protection under some little islands near the head of the 
lake. The mouths of the rivers were open in the spring, 
but as soon as the freshets subsided, the strength of the 
stream was no longer sufficient to force its way into the 



34 LAKE COMMERCE. 

lake ; the consequence of which was, that by mid sum- 
mer a bar of sand was deposited all across the mouth of 
the harbor, so that a man might walk across dry-shod. 
When a good harbor had been made by projecting par- 
allel piers into the lake, as at Cleveland, vessels of six or 
seven hundred tons could enter at all times without the 
least difficulty. 

" Mr. Giddings here went on to enumerate the harbors 
w^here improvements of this kind had been made or com- 
menced, but all abandoned in 1838, in consequence of 
which all that had been done went to ruin, and some of 
the harbors were entirely closed. From 1825 to 1838, 
these improvements were made the care of the govern- 
ment, and appropriations were from time to time made 
and economically applied. The people were satisfied and 
grateful; but in 1838 the very tools necessary to preserve 
what had been done were publicly sold; the government 
expressly recommending that these works be abandoned. 
The people then learned what they had to expect." 

The Buffalo Commercial Advertiser furnishes the very 
interesting statistics below ; showing the amount of mer- 
chandise and furniture which passed that great key of the 
lakes, in the past year. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois all 
receive goods through other routes. Michigan receives 
hers almost exclusively through Lake Erie. 

The tolls show conclusively that the stream of emigra- 
tion is to Wisconsin ; but that Ohio is the great consumer 
of merchandise: 

" The quantity of merchandise and furniture arriving 
here and passing westward is one of the best criterions of 
the growth and prosperity of the interior. In connection 
with our table of canal exports, we gave the aggregate of 
merchandise received. The ultimate destination of this 



LAKE COMMERCE. 35 

property and the families accompanying it, exhibits fully 
the leading points of emigration during the past season. 

" Of the merchandise Ohio has received much the 
greatest quantity; while the heaviest aggregate of furni- 
ture has gone towards Wisconsin. The annexed table 
shows this: 

Exhibit of Mdse. and Furniture passing Westward in 1843, 





MDSE., LBS. 


FURNITURE, L 


Ohio, 


29,056,865 


1,384,372 


Michigan, 


16,505,281 


1,492,627 


Illinois, 


6,954,903 


1,275,377 


Wisconsin, 


5,730,523 


2,630,190 


Indiana, 


4,511,301 


249,936 


Pennsylvania, 


152,023 


51,664 



The exports of wheat and flour, from four ports upon 
the lakes, viz., Cleveland, Detroit, Sandusky and Chi- 
cago, in 1843, amounted to the following aggregate: 
Wheat one million eight hundred and ninety four thou- 
sand nine hundred and ninety-two bushels, and flour eight 
hundred and twelve thousand nine hundred and three, 
worth about four and a half millions of dollars. 

The value of all the exports from Cleveland alone, for 
the year 1843, was five and a half millio7is. 

The states immediately adjacent to these lakes, and di- 
rectly interested in their navigation, are New York, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, all 
of which have been enumerated as being directly inter- 
ested in the navigation of the western rivers, except New 
York and Michigan. These two states contained to- 
gether, in 1840, a population of two million six hundred 
and forty-one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight, 
which added to that of the states whose borders are washed 
by the Mississippi and its tributaries, give a total of eleven 
million seventy-eight thousand nine hundred and sixty- 



36 CANAL COMMERCE. 

seven, and shows the important fact that eleven out of the 
seventeen millions of the population of the United States 
are directly interested in these two great links of the vast 
interior chain of communication. 

Nor is this the only form in which we recognise the 
intimate connection of these parts. If we take our posi- 
tion at the busy harbor of Buffalo, and behold her quays 
crowded with merchandise and passengers; if we extend 
our observation along the great railway and canal to Al- 
bany; and thence by the Hudson to New York, and the 
railway to Boston, we behold an inland thoroughfare of 
unrivaled extent and magnificence, created by a vast ex- 
penditure of treasure, and an unsurpassed exertion of 
genius, enterprise, and public spirit; and we see this long 
line of transit crowded with a busy throng of human 
beings, and rich freights of merchandise. To what end 
were millions of dollars expended in the construction of 
these highways, and why are they thus frequented by busy 
thousands of human beings 1 It is the road to the West ; 
those countless tons of freight are the products of our 
rich plains, or the returns of foreign merchandise which 
are destined to traverse our lakes and rivers. It is a part 
of that great inland trade which has grown up within 
the memory of li/ing men, and has become the pride of 
our country, its paramount interest, the muscle and sinew 
of its power. 

If we select the important city of Pittsburgh, as our 
point of view, considerations of equal magnitude and re- 
sults as widely interesting, are suggested to the mind. 
Claiming to be the "Birmingham of America," she is 
unquestionably entitled to that distinction in reference to 
manufactures of iron and glass, and in regard to other 
fabrics her position as a manufacturing city is among the 



COMMERCE THEOUGH PITTSBURGH. 37 

foremost. Her treasures of iron and coal, and her locality, 
must render these advantages permanant; and we are to 
consider this as one of the great fountain heads, from 
which the whole wide west must derive their supplies of 
manufactured articles, embracing a long list of the necessa- 
ries of life, such especially as bar iron, nails, fabrics of cast 
iron, and farming implements. Cincinnati is the rival 
workshop for these and various other articles, besides 
being the great emporium for agricultural products. 
Whatever facilitates the transportation of these articles is 
protection, the most substantial protection, to the manu- 
facturer and the consumer. How important to Pennsyl- 
vania, as well as to the West, is the navigation from this, 
one of the chief depots of her mineral wealth ! 

But Pittsburgh is also the terminus of a canal con- 
necting her with Philadelphia, and of the Great Central 
Railroad, connecting the same points, a magnificient work 
recently projected, and which it is hoped will be rapidly 
completed. That road will be three hundred and thirty- 
six miles in length, and will cost nearly $10,000,000. It 
will connect with lines extending to Lake Erie at Cleve- 
land, and westward to Cincinnati and St. Louis. 

If Cincinnati be the centre from which we view the 
ramification of these widely extended communications, w^e 
see two canals and a railroad extending to Lake Erie, a 
canal stretching into Indiana, a railroad projected to St. 
Louis, and a route to Charleston, S. C, through Nash- 
ville, by river and railroad, wanting but one short link to 
complete it — and again the indissoluble connection of 
vastly distant parts, and of interests apparently distinct, 
become obvious. We see how our rivers and lakes 
are linked together with a vast system of artificial im- 
provements, constructed by the enterprise of individuals, 



38 THE GREAT HIGHWAY. 

and the liberality of States ; and we can but wonder, that 
when so many millions of money have been expended in 
so magnificent and so indispensable a work — in a work 
so beneficial to the people, and so honorable to the coun- 
try, the General Government should be the only one of the 
parties interested that falters in the great duty of carrying 
it forward. 

If, however, we consider the intricate connection be- 
tween the navigation of these rivers and the Northern 
Lakes — if we take into view the canals, railroads, and 
turnpikes through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, by which 
they are united, and by means of which there are now sev- 
eral channels of direct communication between the cities of 
New York and Boston, and the Western States — we must 
add to the list of States directly interested in this naviga- 
tion, the names of Michigan, New York, and Massachu- 
setts, and swell the number of claimants upon the justice 
of Congress to more than half the population of the 
Union. 

We cannot separate these interests. It is impossible to 
consider these great arterial channels, without perceiving 
their connection with each other, and tracing their rami- 
fication to the utmost extremities of our country. The 
West is no longer a frontier; it is the heart of the Union. 
This is not only geographically true, but it is true in every 
sense. Tlie centre of population, of production, and of 
consumption, is here. We furnish the greater portion of 
the exports, and consume the greater portion of the im- 
ports, that make up the sum of the foreign commerce of 
the nation. Our rivers are no longer margined by silent 
forests; cities, towns, villages, and cultivated fields, enliven 
their shores, and bear testimony to the industry, resources, 
and refinement of the country. 



THE (GREAT HIGHWAY. 39 

We have said that the Ohio and Mississippi are but 
parts of a great chain of inland communication. Their 
tributaries penetrate every Western State, and dissemi- 
nate throughout the whole of our broad plain, the advan- 
tages of this navigation, and should Congress carry for- 
ward, with the spirit worthy of a great nation, the work 
of improving the Mississippi and Ohio, it will not be long 
before every river in the West will be cleared of obstruc- 
tions, by the action of the general or state governments— 
and the magnificent spectacle will be presented to the 
world of an uninterrupted inland navigation oi more than 
twenty thousand miles in extent, within the bosom of a 
great continent, far removed from the sea coast, and inde- 
pendent of the estuaries and inlets of the ocean ! 

Nor is the conception of this great highway complete, 
until we trace it to its extremities. In the South it con- 
nects with the Gulf of Mexico in latitude twenty-nine, in 
the North it falls into the St. Lawrence, communicates 
with the whole southern boundary of the Canadas, and 
stretches off into the Atlantic ocean in latitude fifty ; and 
it extends through Lake Superior, through a long chain 
of Lakes and Rivers, far beyond the utmost bounds of 
civilization in the North West. On the East it connects 
itself by canals and railroads, already mentioned, with the 
sea ports of the eastern and middle states, while on the 
West, its advantages are extended by the long channels of 
the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Arkansas and Red River, 
beyond the inhabited regions of the United States. From 
large portions of our country, it is the highway that must 
be traveled to Texas, to Oregon, and to Canada; it bears 
the freights intended for our commerce with Santa Fe, 
the products of the fur trade from the regions of the Rocky 
Mountains, and the traffic with all the Indian tribes upon 



40 THE GREAT HIGHWAY. 

our borders. Such is the character and magnitude of the 
grand thoroughfare which we ask the nation to open and 
improve by its treasure, and such the trade for which we 
invoke the parental care of the government. 



WESTERN COMMERCE. 41 



CHAPTER III. 

Same subject continued — the navigation of the Western rivers 
considered in reference to its national importance. 

In the preceding chapter we pointed out briefly, the 
extraordinary extent of the Western rivers, and their un- 
rivaled capacity of usefulness to the public, as the natural 
avenues for the transit of passengers, and the transporta- 
tion of produce and merchandise. 

If the Western rivers are thus important to the Amer- 
ican people, in reference to the facilities afforded to them 
in their commerce and private concerns, as individuals, it 
is not less so to them in their political capacity. Of the 
amount of population which we have set down as inhab- 
iting the countries watered by these rivers, four millions 
fifty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty-one are in- 
habitants of the states containing the public domain, and 
in which the nation is directly interested as the owner of 
the soil. How many of those inhabitants would now be 
settled upon lands purchased of the government, had not 
the country been made accessible by the application of 
steam? The reply is obvious. Of all the elements of 
the prosperity of the West — of all the causes of its rapid 
increase in population, its growth in wealth, resources, 
and improvement, its immense commerce, and gigantic 
energies, the most efficient has been the navigation by 
steam. 

Had it not been for the widely diffused facilities of com- 
4 



42 WESTERN COMMERCE. 

merce, afforded by the Mississippi and its numerous tribu- 
taries, ages would have rolled away before the great 
wilderness, of the West would have been penetrated by 
the foot of industry; and had not the noble conception of 
Fulton, carried out by the skill of the American mechanic, 
and the energy of the Western people, brought the steam- 
boat into successful operation, the productions of these rich 
plains must have continued to be floated laboriously to 
market by the insufficient means of the barge, the keel, 
and the flatboat, while our imports would have come to 
us burthened with a cost of freightage which would have 
limited the amount to an inconsiderable traffic; and the 
commerce of the nation, with its resources derived from 
imports, would have been proportlonably depressed. The 
sales of public land would have been comparatively small, 
and the millions which have enriched the public treasury 
from this source would not have existed, as a branch of 
the national income. Without the navigation by steam, 
it is not probable that the proceeds from this source 
would have exceeded the cost of the purchase and sale of 
the public lands, with the contingent expenses of pro- 
tecting, surveying, and bringing them into market. 

The government is still the largest proprietor of the 
soil of the Western States, and is the party most largely 
concerned in interest, in every improvement which de- 
velopes the resources, stimulates the industry, or enhances 
the value of land, in this region. Can it be doubted that 
an improvement in the navigation of our rivers, which 
would disarm it of its dangers, and decrease its expenses, 
would not produce those beneficent effects, or that the gov- 
ernment would not be the greatest gainer from an expen- 
diture which would increase her revenue from foreign 



PUBLIC LANDS. 43 

imports, enhance the value of the public domain, and en- 
large the federal population ? 

The amount of the lands owned by the government, 
within the States and Territories, exceeds three hundred 
millions of acres, and that owned west of the Mississippi 
and Arkansas, exceeds seven hundred and fifty millions. 
One thousand millions of acres constitute the vast domain, 
penetrated and intersected by our great rivers, rendered 
accessible by our six hundred steamboats, and made valu- 
able by the industry of our seven millions of inhabitants. 

The value of the public lands sold, and paid for, in the 
eight years, from 1834 to 1841, inclusive, was $73,832,- 
008 47, and deducting the sales in Michigan, Alabama, 
and Florida, which do not lie in contact With the waters 
proposed to be improved, the amount of sales, in the States 
directly interested, is $ 55,940,569 09. Nearly $ 56,000,- 
000 then, have been drawn from these States within eight 
years, a portion of which has gone to the support of the 
General Government, and the remainder distributed pro 
rata among all the States of the Union. If the western 
people pay annually to the nation a revenue of $ 7,000,- 
000, for the purchase of the lands they occupy, what pro- 
portion of that sum should be appropriated by the Gov- 
ernment, in its capacity of a land owner only, for the keep- 
ing up the highways which render those lands accessible, 
and give them the greater part of their value? And what 
proportion should it appropriate as the proprietor of the 
countless millions of acres yet unsold, the value of which 
is daily enhanced, and indeed their entire marketable value 
almost wholly created, by the industry of the western 
people ? If we should succeed in demonstrating the ne- 
cessity of improving this navigation, or the expediency of 
the measure as a question of interest, can there be a doubt, 



44 NATIONAL INTERESTS. 

that the Government, as the largest proprietor of the soil, 
should bear her just proportion of the expense? 

But the Nation has another important interest in this 
improvement. The report of the Postmaster General, 
dated December 2, 1841, showed that the mail was trans- 
ported within the Western States, by railroad and by 
steamboat, five hundred and eighty-seven thousand three 
hundred and nine miles, of which the portion carried by 
railroads is not specified, but is too inconsiderable to be 
worthy of deduction. Large as this number of miles may 
seem, it is small compared with the extent to which the 
transportation of the mails by water might be carried, if 
our navigable rivers were so improved as to afibrd water 
for the passage of boats uninterruptedly during the dry 
season. The rapidity, safety, and cheapness of this mode 
of transportation, recommend it so strongly, as to leave 
little doubt of its adoption, wherever the navigation is such 
as to render it practicable; nor can there be a rational 
question, in our opinion, as to the duty of Congress, in 
reference to the improvement of those great arterial high- 
ways, through which the mails must flow, under any com- 
plete and thoroughly efficient administration of the post- 
office department. 

Nor is this the only department of the government 
which is interested. A line of military posts extending 
along the whole western frontier, from the Southern to the 
Northern limits of the Uniled States, derive all their sup- 
plies of ordnance, small arms, military stores and provi- 
sions, by means of these rivers, which also afford the fa- 
cilities for the transportation of troops. In the eager com- 
petition among the numerous places in the West, whose 
citizens are applicants for the site of the proposed Western 
Armory, the relative accessibility of these points by the 



NATIONAL INTERESTS. 45 

larger navigable rivers, is dwelt upon as a prominent 
topic, showing distinctly the sense of the community on 
this subject. We have not the data at hand to show the 
amount of property, and the number of lives, annually 
embarked in this navigation, by our government, but there 
is no question that the stake is large, and the cost of trans- 
portation great; for although provisions, and some other 
articles, are delivered by the contractors, at their own risk, 
at the places of consumption, the cost and risk of trans- 
portation, forms part of the prices, and are actually paid 
by the Government. 

In case of a war by which our coasts or borders should 
be assailed in any direction, the importance of this navi- 
gation to the public would be vastly increased. If the 
coasting trade should be rendered unsafe, a large amount 
of the commerce between the States, which now floats upon 
the Atlantic, would necessarily be thrown upon the inte- 
rior channels of communication, and would pass along 
our great rivers, which would become, if such is not now 
their character, the great central highways of the Nation. 
As the rivers in question occupy a central position in 
reference to the whole Union, and are now connected with 
all its extremities, either by their own tributaries, or the 
noble works constructed by the States, they would become 
the principal ways by which troops and munitions of war 
would be transported to the points of danger; and not 
only the safety of the navigation, but the completeness and 
celerity of the access from point to point, would become 
eminently important to the Nation. 

During the last war. New Orleans was defended in 
part by gallant volunteers from the interior, and that city 
would have fallen but for the timely arrival of arms from 
Pittsburgh. And in any future war, the Western plain 



46 GREAT INLAND ROUTE OF TRAVEL. 

must be the centre and main body, upon which the Nation 
must rely for support, and from which men and arms, and 
provisions, must be drawn, to sustain either extremity of 
the Union which may be threatened from abroad. 

But even now, the Mississippi is the great arterial high- 
way for the transit of passengers between the extreme 
points of the Union. At this time the actual cost of a 
passage from Philadelphia to New Orleans, upon the 
mail route, by the railways and roads along the Atlantic 
sea board, is, for a single passenger $94, while the ex- 
penses of a single passenger, between the same places, by 
the route of the western rivers, is but $36. If the great 
western route, impeded as it now is by obstructions in the 
navigation, burthened with tolls, and taxed by exorbitant 
rates of insurance, is the cheapest channel of intercourse 
between the north and south, by more than one half, can 
it be doubted that it will become the chief thoroughfare 
■when it shall have received the improvements of which 
it is susceptible? Seuing aside, then, the safety and ad- 
vantage of the greater portion of the American people, 
which we think the government ought not to disregard, 
thege rivers claim the attention of the National Legisla- 
ture, as affording the most important link in the chain of 
post routes, and the most useful military highway within 
the bounds of the Union. 

The importance of this navigation, and of its improve- 
ment, has not been overlooked by the States which are 
most immediately interested. On the 27th January, 1817, 
a resolution was passed by the legislature of Ohio, invi- 
ting the co-operation of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky 
and Indiana, in measures for the improvement of the Ohio 
river. The invitation was promptly responded to by 
Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky; and in 1819a 



ACTION OF STATES. 47 

thorough examination of that river was made by Gen. 
Blackburn of Virginia, Gen. John Adair of Kentucky, 
Gen. E. W. Tupper of Ohio and Walter Lowrie, Esq., 
of Pennsylvania, who made a joint report to their res- 
pective legislatures, under date of November 2, 1819, 
accompanied by elaborate drafts and plats. It is believed 
that the several Western States have caused surveys to be 
made of many of the rivers within their boundaries ; Ohio 
has improved the Muskingum, and Kentucky is now 
engaged in making slack water navigation upon Green 
river, Kentucky river, and Licking; Indiana and Illinois 
contemplate the improvement of the Wabash, and have 
caused surveys to be made for that purpose, and the atten 
tion of the General Government has been urgently called 
to the Upper and Lower Rapids of the Mississippi. 

If it be asked, why the improvement of the Ohio and 
Mississippi has not been undertaking by the States whose 
borders are washed by these streams, it might be inquired, 
in return, why a few States, of which these rivers form 
the boundaries, should assume a work of such magnitude, 
and of so obviously a national character. As well might 
the States on the sea board, be required to erect light 
houses, and to improve the harbors of the seacoast, as the 
Western States be left to open the navigation of those 
great rivers, which separate States, that are declared by 
the supreme law of the Union to be public highways for 
all the States, and upon which no single State, nor combi- 
nation of States, can place an obstruction, or collect a toll. 
Being public highways for all the States, and not lying 
within the territory or civil jurisdiction of any one mem- 
ber of the confederacy, the navigation belongs to the 
whole American people, and is a proper subject of Na- 
tional legislation. 



48 ACTION OF STATES. 

There is another argument, which is entitled to no 
small consideration. By the Ordinance of 1787, enacted 
by Congress, for the government of the Territory of the 
United States, north-west of the river Ohio, it is declared 
that, "the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi 
and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the 
same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as 
well to the inhabitants of the said territories, as to the citi- 
zens of the United States, and those of other States that 
may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, 
import, or duty therefor." This Ordinance is in the nature 
of a compact, between the General Government and the 
people of the new States, and it reserves certain rights in 
w^hich all the citizens of the United States are interested. 
It is a part of the fundamental law of the land. Reserv- 
ing the rivers, of which we are treating, as common high- 
ways, for all, it divests all the States, and each particular 
State, of any jurisdiction over them. Not only can no 
State obstruct the navigation thus declared to be free; but 
neither can any State enter upon those rivers for the pur- 
pose of changing, even for the better, its navigable chan- 
nels, any more than an individual could for a similar pur- 
pose alter the construction of a public road or bridge, 
or than one individual could enter upon the pro- 
perty of another to exercise over it any act of ownership. 
A declaration of a right consecrated and reserved to the 
use of the whole public, as distinctly negatives any 
ownership or jurisdiction on the part of any part or party, 
less than the whole, as the investment of property in an 
individual divests the titles of all others. We need scarcely 
insist on so plain a point. 

But if the United States, for the use of her own citi- 
zens, reserves a highway, does she not reserve to herself 



ACTION OF STATES. 49 

the obligation to keep it open, and to expend upon it 
whatever labor and money may be requisite to place it, 
and keep it, in a condition to be used? Would any gov- 
ernment reserve a right, and not reserve the power to 
enjoy it? Does it not follow as a necessary consequence, 
that having guarantied to the people the navigation of 
these rivers forever, the United States is bound to keep 
them in a condition to be freely navigated ? 

The phraseology employed on this occasion is very pre- 
cise, and would seem to show that Congress had consi- 
dered carefully the force of the terms they used. The 
Western rivers are common highways ; they are to be for- 
ever free^ not only to the inhabitants of the Western terri- 
tories, but to the citizens of all the States : they are to be 
highways not merely for local use, or for sectional pur- 
poses, but for the intercourse and commerce of the nation. 
They are to be national highways — avenues for the trade 
and travel of the whole people. In short, they are to be 
channels for that commerce "among the States" which 
Congress has the right to regulate, and which they did un- 
dertake to regulate, in this instance, by providing that the 
roads for it should be free forever from all hindrance. 

But there are obvious difficulties in the way of any 
joint or several action by the States, in relation to this 
work. If undertaken by the States singly, it would be 
difficult to assign the limits within which the labor of 
each should be expended; if by all jointly, the diversity of . 
population, weaUh and interest, would embarrass and pro- 
bably defeat any attempt to apportion the expenditure. 
Popular opinion would vary as to the time, the manner, 
and the magnitude of the disbursement — and while all the 
States would be equally able or willing — or that the 
5 



50 ACTION OF STATES. 

unanimous action of their legislative bodies could be ob- 
tained. 

The financial resources of the Western States are 
limited, and have already been taxed to the full extent of 
their ability. Populating with unexampled rapidity, and 
spread over a vast surface, their unavoidable expenses 
have been great, and their exigencies suddenly created. In 
older communities public improvements have grown up 
imperceptibly with the increase of population, wealth, 
and refinement; but here, an energetic and civilized popu- 
lation, accumulating rapidly in a wilderness, were obliged 
to create the institutions, the public works, the facilities 
for intercourse and civil government, to which they had 
been accustomed. Within fifty years we have created 
and reared up civil institutions and monuments of public 
spirit and social enterprise, which in other countries have 
been the work of centuries. We have organised cities, 
counties and states; we have made roads, canals, and rail- 
ways; we have built court houses, jails, schools, and 
churches ; we have covered a wilderness with productive 
farms, and flourishing villages. All this has been done 
by a people, who brought little wealth into the country, 
from' the products of a virgin soil, and the labors of an 
enterprising population. The State of Ohio and its citi- 
zens have nearly completed seven hundred and sixty-five 
miles of canal, and artificial slack water navigation, at a 
cost, when all the payments shall have been made, of 
$9,500,000, and six hundred and sixty-seven miles of 
turnpike road, at a cost of $4,000,000, besides about 
seventy miles of railroad. The expenditures of Kentucky, 
upon turnpike roads] and slack water navigation, have 
been very large ; while Indiana and lUinois have expend- 
ed millions of dollars in attempts and preparations to 



GOVERNMENT OFFICERS. 51 

extend great systems of artificial communication through- 
out their widely spread territories. 

It is essential to a successful prosecution of this great 
work, that it shall be carried on, not only with the treasure 
of the Nation, but under the direct supervision of govern- 
ment officers. The magnitude of the undertaking, and 
the wide extent of territory through which it must be con- 
ducted, requires that there should be unity in the plan, 
skill in the execution, and rigid economy in the expendi- 
tures, to give it the full efficiency of which it is suscepti- 
ble. The government has the command, in its able corps 
of engineers, of all the talent, experience, and scientific 
knowledge requisite for the work, together with the pos- 
session of able reports and estimates, already made, in 
relation, it is believed, to every branch of the desired im- 
provements; and in the known fidelity and efficiency of 
these officers the public would have a pledge that the ex- 
penditure swould be made under a well matured system, 
and with reference to public utility, instead of being pros- 
tituted to sectional partialities, or private speculations. 

We are gratified to perceive that our views in regard 
to the agency by which this great work shall be effected 
are in accordance with those of the general government, 
and that an experienced officer, who has the confidence of 
the country, has been entrusted with the execution of the 
preliminary surveys. We hail this measure as an earnest 
that something is to be done, and that it will be done under 
right auspices. We ask nothing but what is practica- 
ble, and reasonable — nothing but what will be honorable 
to the country and permanently useful to the people; and 
as we desire that every dollar which may be appropriated 
to a purpose so truly national and so nobly munificent 
shall be faithfully applied, we hope to see this work 



52 GOVERNMENT OFFICERS. 

entrusted only to the most responsible hands, and conducted 
with the most rigid economy. And we feel relieved in 
regard to the duty of furnishing the statistics requisite to 
sustain our petition, by the knowledge that several engi- 
neers of great ability have been employed industriously 
in making surveys ; and by the belief, that their reports 
will furnish all the information desirable, and in a far 
more perfect form than we could give to it. 



GREAT FLOODS OF THE OHIO. 53 



CHAPTER IV. 

Snags— how caused — losses occasioned by them — periodical floods, 
—the flood of 1847. 

The Ohio river, though not obnoxious to the fall force 
of the sarcasm of the distinguished Virginian who de- 
scribed it as frozen one half of the year, and dried up du- 
ring the remainder, is subject to vicissitudes which seri- 
ously affect the navigation, and demand the national at- 
tention, from the double consideration of the magnitude of 
the evil, and the vastness of the means required for its 
correction. If the work can be done at all, in a manner 
worthy of the energies of a great people, and permanently 
advantageous^ it must be done by the national govern- 
ment. 

Throughout the winter the frequent changes from cold 
to moderate weather produce rains and thaws, which oc- 
casion a series of freshets, and afford ample supplies of 
water. The change, from the severe cold of the winter 
to the higher temperature of the spring, is usually sudden, 
and causes the precipitation of vast floods into the chan- 
nels of our rivers. The snows which cover the Alle- 
gheny Mountains, along their whole western exposure, 
from the borders of New York, to those of North Caro- 
lina, are rapidly melted, and the whole of this mass of 
water thrown suddenly into the Ohio, which now attains 
its greatest depth and volume. In the great rise of 1832, 
the water rose at Cincinnati sixty-three feet above low 



54 GREAT FLOOD OF 1847. 

water mark; the sectional area was ninety-one thousand 
four hundred and sixty-four feet, without including its ex- 
tension over the lower parts of Cincinnati and Covington; 
the number of cubic feet discharged per hour was two 
billion nine hundred and ninety-eight million five hundred 
and twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and fourteen, 
and the velocity of the stream was six and a half miles 
per hour. 

In the first series of this work we gave a particular ac- 
count of that flood, and expressed the opinion that the cir- 
cumstances which must necessarily concur to produce so 
extraordinary a freshet, were so numerous, and would so 
rarely be likely to occur together, that floods such as that 
of 1832, could only take place at far distant periods. The 
great flood of 1847, which has occurred since the publi- 
cation of that volume, has not presented any facts which 
materially effect our position, otherwise than to sustain it. 
The meteorological phenomena were different, but were 
such as indicated similar results. In 1832, heavy rains 
succeeded deep snows and intensely cold weather, and the 
earth being frozen hard, the mass of water, supplied by the 
rain and melted snow, was suddenly precipitated into the 
water courses. In 1847, the weather had been variable, 
with frequent rains, so that the earth was saturated with 
water, and the streams already swollen, when "the win- 
dows of heaven were opened," and vast floods of rain 
Avere precipitated upon the whole country. These rains 
extended to the mountains, where there was much snow, 
the whole of which was added to the liquid mass, now 
moving over the whole surface contiguous to the Ohio 
and its tributaries, towards that great channel of drainage. 
The rise at Cincinnati commenced on the 9th of Decem- 
ber, the river being then tolerably high, or in what is 



GREAT FLOOD OF 1847. 55 

called a good navigable stage; and on the 10th it rose 
fourteen feet in twenty-four hours. During the next two 
days it rose at the rate of about five feet in twenty-four 
hours. On the 17th it had reached its maximum height, 
and the rise was then sixty-two feet six inches above low 
water mark, or within six inches of the high water mark 
of 1832. 

At Louisville the rise was about the same, in compari- 
son with that of 1832, as at Cincinnati, while at Marietta, 
it was several feet less, verifying our remark, that, as a 
general rule, the maximum height of the flood would be 
attained at a point central between the head and the mouth 
of the river, and that this point would be found at or near 
Cincinnati. 

The appearance of the river, from the hills overlooking 
Cincinnati, was very grand. The low grounds, on both 
sides, were covered, and a broad expanse of water was 
presented to the eye. All the lower parts of the city- 
were submerged — the ground floors of the warehouses 
on Water and Front streets were flooded, the water ex- 
tending up the streets running north, to Columbia or 
Second street, and filling all the cellars on that street. 
The bottom lands on Mill creek, including a large sweep 
of the south-western part of the city, not yet closely built 
upon, but covered with scattered buildings, were all inun- 
dated; the serpentine channel of Mill creek was entirely 
lost in the view, and in its stead was a wide expanse of 
■water, covering the whole plain to the bases of the hill 
on either side, and forming an estuary which extended 
more than a mile north and west from the river. On the 
other side of the city, the little valley of Deer creek was 
also inundated, leaving the high grounds, which form the 
greater part of the site of our city, standing out in the 



56 GREAT FLOOD OF 1847. 

form of a promontory, inclosed on three sides by the vast 
flood. The suburb of Fulton and the towns of Newport 
and Covington were partly submerged, and on both sides 
of the river small boats were seen, plying actively from 
house to house, or passing to and fro over the flooded 
streets and alleys. A larger number of steamboats than 
usually frequent our wharves, now lay moored in contact 
with the warehouses, their voyages being suspended by 
the common calamity which involved alike all the towns 
on the river, and by the impossibility of procuring fuel at 
the wood yards. The streets were crowded with pedes- 
trians and carriages, for while there was less business, 
there were more idle persons than usual; many were 
engaged in moving their effects; the houseless were 
seeking shelter, and the benevolent seeking out the house- 
less; curiosity and want of employment swelled the 
throng. The river, spread out to a greatly increased 
width, and filling its valley to the bases of the hills, 
swept its mighty current majestically along, its waters 
discolored with mud, and its broad surface loaded with 
drift-wood, rails, fragments of wooden houses, and various 
other of the spoils and evidences of its destructive career. 
And as if to deepen the shades, and give a bolder tone to 
the features of this scene of mingled grandeur and deso- 
lation, the weather was variable and stormy, the clouds 
cold and forbidding, and the ground covered with snow, 
impressing the beholder with a sense of the reality of the 
scene, and of the vastness of its extent and consequences. 
It will be seen that the flood affected chiefly the part 
of Cincinnati on the river, where the buildings were 
mostly stores and places of business, and the suburbs com- 
posed of dwelling houses. Hundreds of families were 
driven suddenly from their habitations. The weather was 



GEEAT FLOOD OF 1847. 57 

intensely cold, and the houseless exiles, from the comforts 
and protection of home, were mostly poor or laboring 
persons, who could not well afford the loss of time, the 
destruction of furniture, and the expenses incident to this 
unexpected catastrophe. Thousands of individuals were 
thus thrown suddenly upon the charity of their fellow- 
citizens, and, we are happy to say, that the most consid- 
erate and generous alacrity was evinced in responding to 
the call. The churches were all thrown open, as places 
of temporary residence, to shelter the houseless, commit- 
tees were appointed to administer to their wants, and 
money liberally contributed for their present support. 
The clergy of all denominations were active ministers in 
the work of benevolence. 

The destruction of property, and the losses, either direct 
or contingent upon the flood, were very considerable. 
Many of the most important roads leading into the city 
were overflowed or obstructed, and the river navigation 
suspended. All business was suspended for about a week, 
and many branches were interrupted for a longer period. 
For about ten days the markets were scantily supplied, 
and the prices of poultry, butter, vegetables, &c., some- 
what enhanced, but the substantial articles of food are. of 
course, too abundant here to be effected by any temporary 
cause. Large quantities of fire-wood were floated off 
from the wharves. Very little merchandise was destroyed 
in the inundated stores and warehouses, as such property 
was generally removed in time. The losses consisted 
mainly in injuries to buildings, destruction and loss of 
furniture in houses of the poorer class, injuries to fences, 
gardens and bridges, and loss to manufacturers and me- 
chanics whose shops and yards were overflowed. The 
aggregate of these injuries, added to the vast loss of time, 



58 FLOODS OF THE OHIO. 

was great, yet the amount was small compared with the 
number of persons interested, and the mass of property 
at risk — so small, that the waters had scarcely subsided be- 
fore the traces of the flood ceased to be distinctly visible, 
or its existence to be recollected as a great public calamity. 

The loss of property along the shores of the Ohio, and 
of all its larger tributaries, was very great. Vast quan- 
tities of fire-wood, prepared for sale, at Louisville, Cin- 
cinnati, and other towns, or accumulated at the wood- 
yards and steamboat landings, for the use of steamboats, 
were floated away. The farmers suffered largely in the. 
destruction of their fences, and of corn, hay and prov- 
ender stacked or cribbed in the bottom lands. Much of 
the Indian corn of this country is allowed to remain on 
the stalk through the early part of the winter, to be gath- 
ered at the leisure of the farmer, in the season when he 
has least to do ; while another large portion is pulled 
from the stalk, and thrown into pens or fodder houses in 
the field, to be husked and permanently housed at the same 
convenient season. To this careless husbandry much of 
the loss of this flood is attributable, as all the corn 
remaining in this condition, in the bottom lands, would be 
exposed to destruction. 

Since 1832 great changes have taken place on the 
shores of the Ohio. Commerce has prospered, and its 
operations become greatly enlarged. The demand for 
our products has been increased, and every branch ol 
labor and trade has been stimulated into greater activity 
and magnitude. The towns and villages on the river 
banks have consequently grown in size and improved in 
appearance, and their increased business and necessary 
connection with the river have occasioned the erection of 
valuable buildings on the immediate margin of the water, 



SNAGS, SNAGBOATS. 59 

and within the reach of the highest floods. Besides the 
towns, of which portions are thus exposed to inundation, 
there are other places, such as Lawrenceburg, situated 
wholly upon overflowed ground, and which w^ere en- 
tirely overwhelmed and surrounded by this great flood. 

One of the important consequences of these great floods 
is, the creation of obstructions in the form of logs and 
trees, which are swept from the bank and precipitated into 
the stream. The snags, which cause the destruction of so 
many boats, are formed of large trees which are thrown 
into the channel, by the crumbling of the banks, or the 
force of the current. The base of the stem, and the mass 
of roots, rendered heavier by the earth which adheres to 
it, sinks to the bottom ; the top of the tree floats, and is 
thrown in the direction of the current; the roots become 
imbedded and firmly fixed ; the smaller branches decay 
and drop off', and the large limbs remain, pointing down 
the stream. When these sunken trees are concealed be- 
neath the surface, they are very dangerous to boats, which, 
rushing upon them with the momentum given by a pow- 
erful steam engine, seldom fail, when they strike, to have 
the hull perforated, and the boat sunk. 

This branch of the subject has already received the 
attention of the government, and the results of the expe- 
riments instituted have been entirely satisfactory. The 
snagboat, constructed under the direction of the govern- 
ment, has been successful in removing these obstacles, at a 
very trifling expense, and with great facility. The boat 
is of simple construction, yet has such power, that the 
largest tree, however firmly fixed, is removed in a few 
minutes. A number of these ingenious vessels were em- 
ployed for several years, with such success, that thou- 
sands of snags were removed from the Ohio and Missis- 



60 SNAGS J SNAGBOATS. 

sippi, the most dangerous places were rendered perfectly- 
safe, and the whole navigation made completely free from 
this formidable evil. In the year ending in September, 
1833, nineteen hundred and sixty snags were taken up 
from the Mississippi, and the chances of danger diminished 
by at least that number. The crews of the boats were 
employed within the same year, when the water was too 
high to permit their working on the bed of the river, in 
felling the overhanging trees, which stood on banks liable 
to be undermined ; and removing ten thousand trees, which 
must soon have been precipitated into the current. 

From 1822 to 1827, the loss of property on the Ohio 
and Mississippi, by snags alone, including steam and flat 
boats, and their cargoes, amounted to $1,362,500. The 
losses on the same items, from 1827 to 1832, were reduced 
to $381,000, in consequence of the beneficial action of the 
snagboats; and those losses were still further reduced in 
the years immediately succeeding, by the diligent prosecu- 
tion of the same service. 

We are not aware of the causes which have induced 
the discontinuance of this valuable service, but we know 
that the consequences have been most disastrous. For 
several years past, the appropriations for the snagboats 
have been so small as to render that service wholly inef- 
ficient, and the snags have accumulated with fearful rapid- 
ity in all the western rivers, while the increasing amount 
of commerce, and number of boats, have swelled the 
danger and the losses to an appalling extent. In the me- 
morial of the citizens of St. Louis, recently published, it 
is stated that "in the year 1839 there were forty steam- 
boats lost; forty-one in 1840; twenty-nine in 1841; and 
in the year 1842, the number is said to be twenty-eight — 
making a total in four years of one hundred and thirty- 



LOSSES BY SNAGS. 61 

eight boats," The estimate here given for the latter year 
is far short of the truth, for since the date of this memo- 
rial, at least fifteen steamboats have been lost; indeed, 
while preparing this memorial, a single mail from the 
southwest brought intelligence of the loss of five boats, 
four more were added to the melancholy list on the fol- 
lowing day, and three more by a subsequent arrival. 

Between the 11th of September and the 15th of Octo- 
ber, in the year 1842, the losses on the Mississippi, be- 
tween St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio, a distance of 
only one hundred and eighty miles, were $234,000. 
Within the succeeding seventeen months, there were lost 
seventy-two steamboats, worth $1,200,000, besides their 
cargoes, which were of great value. 

The losses paid by the insurance offices in Cincinnati 
alone, on boats and cargoes, during a period of five years, 
from November 1837, to November 1842, including only 
the losses by obstructions in the navigation, and excluding 
all losses by explosion, collision, fire, and other causes, 
were $442,930 89. As insurance is made also at 
Pittsburgh, Louisville, Nashville, St. Louis, Wheeling, 
Natchez, New Orleans, and at some of the smaller towns, 
the above sum might be multipled by seven to arrive at 
something like a fair approximation of the losses sus- 
tained by underwriters, from the dangerous condition of 
the navigation, and the result would be $3,000,000, or 
$600,000 per annum. If to this be added the losses from 
the same cause, on which there was no insurance, the 
amount would be not less than $1,000,000 per annum. 
$1,000,000 per annum is actually taxed on the com- 
merce of the West, for losses sustained in consequence of 
obstructions, which might be wholly removed by an ap- 
propriation by Congress of a comparatively trifling sum ! 



62 LOSS OF PROPERTY AND LIFE. 

An additional fact showing the danger of this navigation, 
is, that many offices have declined to insure the hulls of 
boats, and such risks are only taken on the best boats, and 
at rates varying from twelve to eighteen per cent.; the in- 
surers are said to lose money at even these enormous rates. 
The amount, then, of the annual risk, on the $7,200,000 
invested in steamboats alone is more than $1,000,000. 

The most fruitful causes of these losses are the snags; 
a species of obstruction which we have shown to be com- 
pletely within the control of the government; and we 
therefore respectfully urge the propriety of an immediate 
and energetic action by the government, in reference to 
this subject, by the construction of as many snagboats as 
may be necessary, and an annual appropriation, for keep- 
ing these boats in the regular service of the nation, from 
year to year. 

We have thus far not touched upon the exposure of life, 
occasioned by the inattention of government to this dan- 
gerous navigation. There are employed, on the six^hun- 
dred steamboats, and the four thousand flat and keel boats, 
that float on the Ohio and Mississippi, not less than from 
forty-five to fifty thousand persons; and as all the steam- 
boats carry passengers, there are several hundred thou- 
sand, not Western citizens only, but citizens of each and 
every State in the Union, annually exposed to delay, ex- 
pense, inconvenience, and jeopardy of life, from the 
causes indicated in this memorial. And who shall count 
the value of their lives? Shall the lives of the free citi- 
zens of an enlightened nation be weighed against the 
amount of an appropriation in money which would insure 
their safety ? The Romans paid the highest civic honors 
to him who saved the life of a citizen ; and if we admire 
the principle which dictated this policy, what should be 



LOSS OF PROPERTY AND LIFE. 63 

the conduct of a christian and highly civilized nation — a 
nation of unbounded resources and untiring energy, in 
reference to a work of comparative insignificance, but the 
neglect of ^rhich involves daily and hourly the lives of 
many citizens ? The American people have reserved in 
their constitution the right of passing from State'to State, 
and of transporting their property throughout the Union ; 
and can it be doubted that the government should facili- 
tate the exercise of a right asserted with such provident 
care ? To an enterprising, commercial, and highly social 
people, who travel so continually and so extensively, no 
subject can be more important than that under conside- 
ration. 

It is hardly necessary here to enter into a minute des- 
cription of a steamboat disaster on the Mississippi. The 
peculiar character of that mighty river, the irresistible 
force of the current, and the steep and crumbling nature 
of the banks, which afiTord but few safe places of landing, 
surround the disabling of a boat on these waters with 
fearful dangers. When a steamboat, heavily laden, and 
crowded with passengers, strikes upon a snag in the night, 
and is engulphed in a few minutes in the stream, the scene 
is terrific beyond description; the loss of life to some of 
the more helpless of those embarked is inevitable, and the 
danger to all appalling. 

It is not to be disguised that many losses occur from the 
insufficiency of steamboats and their machinery, and from 
the culpable rashness, negligence, and ignorance of those 
who have them in charge. This is a subject which has 
excited much public attention, and has even occupied a 
prominent place in the discussions of the National Legis- 
lature. The result of the most careful inquiries has pro- 
duced a o^eneral conviction on the minds of those conversant 



64 LOSS OF PROPERTY AND LIFE. 

with the subject, that while we have many fine boats, 
managed with as much skill and prudence as those of any- 
other country, and m which the passenger enjoys the 
highest degree of safety of which such navigation is sus- 
ceptible, there is connected with the remainder an inex- 
cusable want of care of the lives entrusted to them. The 
unavoidable accidents to steamboats are few, in compari- 
son with losses occasioned by neglect and bad manage- 
ment, and by obstructions in the navigation. 

To discriminate among these causes of loss, and apply 
the remedy, is a matter of no small delicacy and embar- 
rassment, but it is one which would be stripped of much 
of its difficulty if the natural obstacles which endanger 
the navigation were removed. At present, the great num- 
ber of steamboat losses blunts the public sensibility in re- 
gard to such catastrophes, and wearies and baffles that 
spirit of inquiry which would investigate the causes of 
these disasters; while it affords a ready excuse for those 
who might otherwise become the objects of public con- 
demnation. If the river channels were disarmed of their 
terrors, and the safety of boats was made to depend en- 
tirely ypon the fidelity and skill of their construction and 
management, the public would demand a much greater 
degree of security than is now expected, and the owners 
and officers of boats would be held to a higher degree of 
responsibility. A wholesome moral effect would also be 
produced by the action of the government. So long as 
the government, regardless of its parental and conserva- 
tive character, remains a cold and indifferent spectator of 
the destruction of life and property, so long will life and 
property cease to be regarded with care by the thoughtless 
portion of its citizens. In a country where public opinion 
is the sovereign law, and where so much of that public 



LOSS OF PROPERTY AND LIFE. 65 

opinion flows from the legislation created by itself; a ten- 
der sensibility for the life of the citizen, and a decorous 
respect for his property, is peculiarly demanded from 
those who, in making the laws, influence the morals and 
sentiments of the people. 



66 SANDBARS OF THE OHIO. 



CHAPTER V. 

Sandbars plans for improving them by wing dams by 

slackwater — by dredging machines. 

The bars in the Ohio may be classed — first, into those 
formed of hard and apparently permanent gravel; 2nd, 
shifting or loose gravel; and 3d, shifting sandbars. These 
bars have been minutely surveyed, on several occasions, 
by officers of the United States, whose reports furnish all 
the information which[may be desirable in regard to them, 
and preclude the necessity of any detailed description. 
It may be remarked, however, that while they present 
serious obstacles to navigation in low water, they seem 
also to serve a valuable purpose in another respect. The 
Ohio, through its whole course, has in general a gentle 
and equable current. In low water, the river is resolved 
into a series of ripples or dams, with extensive basins of 
slackwater between them, varying in depth from two to 
five fathoms. It would seem as if nature had formed 
these bars or dams, for the purpose of collecting the water 
above them, and thus forming a succession of navigable 
pools. Following this indication, it would seem desira- 
ble, not to remove them, which is perhaps impracticable, 
but to pass them by some form of artificial channel, which 
would not greatly change the depth of the water above. 
Experiments, having this object in view, have already 
been made under the patronage of the government, by 



SANDBARS OF THE OHIO. 67 

constructing wing dams from each side of the river, so as 
to confine the current within narrow banks^ and to give it 
a sufficient volume of water to wash a current for itself. 
A work of this character was constructed about eighteen 
years ago, by Col. Long, of the topographical engineers, 
at Henderson bar, two hundred miles below Louisville; 
and similar dams have since been constructed, at French 
island. Three Mile island, Scuffietown bar, and the Three 
Sisters. These were among the shoalest and most diffi- 
cult places in the Ohio, and some of them have been 
greatly improved. 

We have, heretofore, entertained sanguine hopes of the 
success of this mode of improvement; but our expecta- 
tions, as to its efficiency, have been greatly modified by 
the experiments that have been made. In some instances 
the bars have been improved ; in a majority of cases the 
navigation has not gained any advantage, and in a few it 
has been injured. This disparity of result was, perhaps, 
unavoidable, in an experiment so novel, and where it was 
attempted to control nature, in one of the most gigantic of 
her operations. It is not reasonable to expect that success 
should attend the first steps of such a movement. This 
mode of improvement will probably be found successful 
to some extent, when prosecuted upon a scale consistent 
with the liberality of a great nation, and reduced to sys. 
tem by a careful attention to the results of experiment and 
observation. We are sorry to say, that we believe it to 
be not of universal application, and that it cannot be de- 
pended upon as a form of improvement independent of 
other aids. 

As a general rule, we are inclined to believe, that but 
little can be done, or ought to be done, to change the con- 
dition of the bars; and that their entire removal, if it 



DO PROJECTS FOR REMOVING SANDBARS. 

could be effected, would be objectionable, if not ruinous. 
Forming our river, as they do, into a series of pools, 
which afford a natural slackwater navigation, their agency 
could not be dispensed with, without destroying this admi- 
rable arrangement of nature. In most instances, where 
dams have been constructed for the purpose of changing 
the current of the river, or opening new channels for the 
water, they will be found to have failed of their purpose. 
Their proper office is simply auxiliary to the agencies 
which are already and naturally in operation, and they 
should be employed only to deepen and render permanent 
the existing channels. Thus, where the river breaks over 
a bar by several channels, it might be right to obstruct all 
of them but one, selecting for that purpose the most direct, 
or that which conformed itself most nearly to the general 
current of the river; and in cases where the river spreads 
out to a width greater than ordinary, the channel might 
be advantageously narrowed. 

In regard to most of the bars, we incline to believe that 
but little else can be done than to open the present chan- 
nels, by removing the logs, stones, or other accidental ob- 
structions, so as to give to boats the advantage of the whole 
depth of water which the soundings would indicate. This 
is in itself an important work, and a systematic attention 
to it on the part of the government would be very bene- 
ficial. 

It may also be suggested, that many of these bars, sup- 
posed to be the most difficult to affect by permanent arti- 
ficial improvement, are composed of shifting sand, through 
which channels are easily cut, which would remain open 
during the season of low water, but would be filled up 
with the same species of loose sand, during the floods of 
the winter. It may be worthy of^experiment, whether at 



LOCKS AND DAMS PROPOSED. 69' 

such places channels might not be opened annually, and 
kept open during the season, at an expense, trifling when 
compared with the value of the service. Small vessels, 
propelled by steam, and supplied with machinery for 
scooping out the sand, would. open channels sufficiently 
deep for the smaller class of, steamboats, with great fa- 
cility, and they might run from bar to bar, throughout 
the season of low water, without incurring any formidable 
expenditure. 

We have no doubt that this plan will be ultimately 
adopted, and that the business of the river will be con- 
formed to it. 

Much of the inconvenience of low water has already 
been overcome by the ingenuity of our mechanics, and 
the enterprise of our merchants, in the construction of 
steamboats of light draught, that ply industriously through 
nearly all the season of low water. But individual exer- 
tion cannot do every thing. We have put our own shoul- 
ders to the wheel with manful resolution, and we hope 
the government will perform its part with equal alacrity. 

Among the projects for improving the navigation of the 
Ohio, that of converting the stream into slackwater by the 
construction of locks and dams has lately been spoken of, 
and has many advocates. It is plausibly argued that the 
plan, which has proved successful on the Monongahela 
and Kentucky rivers, must be equally applicable to any 
stream of similar character, and that the superior magni- 
tude of the Ohio does not materially aflect the question, as 
the principle would be the same. We dissent wholly 
from this proposition; and are glad to be able to say, that 
our opinion is confirmed by that of Col. Long, one of the 
oldest and ablest engineers in the service of the United 
States, to whom we are indebted for some of the following 



70 SLACKWATER NAVIGATION. 

suggestions, and whose familiar acquaintance with this 
river, adds greatly to the weight of his authority. 

Slackwater, or lock and dam navigation in the Ohio, 
would be objectionable on the following accounts: 

1. We have already pointed out the admirable economy 
of nature by which the waters of this beautiful river are 
arranged into a series of pools, having a gentle current, 
and an abundance of depth. Having but few snags or 
other obstructions, and impeded only by the bars in very 
low water,, the Ohio is one of the best navigable streams 
in the world, for eight or nine months in every year. The 
obstruction from low water does not occupy more than 
three months in the year, nor is the navigation wholly 
suspended during all that period, being for the most part 
supplied, as we have stated, by boats of light draught. 
We object, then, to any project, and especially to one of 
which the success is problematical, which, for the purpose 
of improving the navigation during three months, might in- 
jure it through the remaining larger portion of the season^ 
It is obvious that the natural navigation, so long as it can 
be used with ordinary facility and safety, is better than 
any artificial navigation whatever. 

2. The pools between the dams must sooner or later 
be filled with deposits of sand and mud, from the turbid 
water always brought down in times of freshet. 

The quantity of mud contained in the water of the 
Ohio, when swelled by freshets, according to the experi- 
ments of Capt. Grane, is nearly two per cent, of the fluid 
volume of the river; and consists "not only of soft mat- 
ter, but small stones, known to come even from the tribu- 
taries of the upper Ohio, attached to floating ice, roots of 
trees, &c." This matter is found as far down as the 
rapids at Louisville, over which they are carried by the 



SLACKWATER NAVIGATION. 71 

force of the current, separated by the rapidity of the mo- 
tion, and deposited below. We take the following remarks 
from his report : 

" A given volume of muddy water is to the volume of 
the mud contained in it as 1 is to 0.01923. By separating 
the same volume of muddy water, into clear water and 
mud, the resulting volume of clear water is to the result- 
ing volume of mud as 1 is to 0.01961. The specific 
gravity of the muddy water, as it runs in times of high 
water, is 1.2745 — that of the clear water obtained by the 
separation being being 1.0000, and the specific gravity of 
the earthy matter after separation is 1.5480. 

"Hence in every 100 cubic feet of water passing the 
falls in times of high stages, there also passes, at the same 
time, suspended in that 100 cubic feet, very nearly 2 
cubic feet of mud. 

"The area or cross section of the stream, taken on the 
crest of the rock, at the head of the falls, is then 96,128 
square feet, and the velocity of the stream may be prox- 
imately estimated at four miles the hour. 

" From these data, it is calculated that there passes over 
the falls, during every twenty-four hours, in the high 
stages of the river, 936,998,454 cubic feet of mud. This 
uniformly spread over a section of land, (one square mile,) 
would cover it to the depth of 33.6 feet ! 

" We need not, therefore, be surprised at the fact of ten 
feet depth of mud being found deposited in the locks of 
the existing canal, during a single rise of the river. Some- 
times the accumulation is so great, that serious detention 
occurs to boats passing through during the time when all 
the force that can be raised are dredging the mud to open 
the gates." 

" In times of high water, vast quantities of drift wood 



72 SLACKWATER ON THE OHIO. 

pass the falls. The channel which it takes in passing 
depends chiefly upon the direction of the wind. This drift 
wood is a very great inconvenience to the existing canal, and 
would be found one of the strongest difficulties to contend 
with, in keeping any work free from being choked at 
every rise of the river." 

Water in a state of rest deposits its impurities much 
more rapidly than when in motion, and all observers of the 
Ohio have noticed how the bars form and accumulate, in 
the eddies and pools where the current ceases to flow. 
Where a floating log or tree gets aground, the sand lodges 
below it, forming a bar, which often becomes an island. 
The erection of dams would render those pools stagnant, 
through which the water now flows with a gentle cur- 
rent, yet with sufficient velocity to keep the channel open, 
and to bear onward the floating mass of earthy matter; 
and the deposits, immense as they are shown to be by ac- 
tual experiment, would soon fill the pools, to the great 
injury, if not entire destruction of the low water navi- 
gation. 

The operation of this principle is distinctly seen in the 
formation of the flat lands and shallow waters, at the out- 
lets of the Mississippi into the Gulf, where the earthy 
particles that are suspended in the fluid, by the swift cur- 
rent of the confined river are deposited as soon as the 
turbid stream pours itself into the ocean and becomes com- 
paratively at rest. 

It is no answer to this objection, to point to the success- 
ful operation of the slackvvater principle upon other rivers, 
unless they can be shown to be similar to the Ohio in 
character and magnitude. On the Kentucky and the 
Monongahela the slackwater has not been in operation 
long enough to estabJish facts from which to infer that its 



SLACKWATER ON THE OHIO. 73 

success will be permanent. Nor do these rivers assimilate 
to the Ohio in character. Originating in the mountains, 
passing over channels of rock through a great part of 
their course, and not dependent upon other rivers for sup- 
plies of navigable water, their filtering pools must be lon- 
ger in filling up with sediment — because there is less 
sediment, and more rapid currents to carry it off The 
Ohio is the main sewer into which all the masses of allu- 
vian are poured from her numerous tributaries, and by 
which these vast volumes are passed off toward the ocean. 
Here of course the accumulation of such matter will be 
the greatest, and the effects of its detention the most rapid 
and disastrous. 

3. The currents through the pools would be so much 
retarded, that rafts, flatboats, &c., floating with the stream, 
and having no other motive power, would be seriously 
delayed in their progress to market. A great portion of 
the lumber used at all the towns on the river, as well for 
building, as in the manufacture of furniture, carriage and 
wagon making, and in a great variety of fabrics of wood, 
is floated upon the Ohio in rafts; all the scantling, boards, 
and shingles, of pine and cedar, are brought in that way. 
It is obvious that, in so new and so growing a country, the 
quantity of timber required for building must be immense, 
and that so heavy an article must, in general, be trans- 
ported by water. Such are the facts. 

So, too, with the important necessaries of life, coal and 
fire-wood, for the conveyance of both of which the rivers 
are the usual highways. They are floated to market in 
flatboats. Neither of them will bear a more expensive 
mode of transport, though in relation to coal we believe 
that the employment of cheap steamboats to tow the flats 
would be an improvement, and would prevent much of the 
7 



74 SLACKWATER ON THE OHIO. 

loss that now occurs from the sinking of these heavy and 
unmanageable craft. 

The flatboat trade is quite important. These boats are 
constructed by the farmers, and country traders, at interior 
places, not usually visited by steamboats, and floated out 
in times of high water, freighted with cattle, horses, grain, 
whiskey, &c.; but although a freshet is usually required to 
bring them out of the smaller tributaries,their progress is so 
slow, that their voyages are often protracted beyond the 
continuance of the floods, and are prosecuted in all stages 
of water. They are made almost entirely of wood, by 
the use of scarce any other tools than the axe, the broad- 
axe, tiie saw, and the auger, in all of which our farmers 
are expert; but liule money, and most frequently none, 
and no aid from the mechanic, are required in their con- 
struction. These considerations render them convenient 
and necessary auxiliaries to trade and agriculture, and en- 
title them to special consideration. The delays of a re- 
tarded current, and of passing locks, would be seriously 
injurious, if not destructive, to that branch of our navi- 
gation. 

4. Boats, &c., whether ascending or descending, will be 
compelled to pass through the locks during all low and 
medium stages of the river, and can pass over the dams 
only when the water shall have risen six or eight feet 
above their crests. 

Of course, it is obvious, that the lock walls at every 
dam must be raised six or eight feet above the crest of the 
dam, in order to admit the passage of boats through the 
lock chamber, until the depth of ^yater above the crest of 
the dam is sufiicient to allow the passage of boats over it. 

5. The aggregate fall of the Ohio river, between Pitts- 
burgh and its confluence with the Mississippi, is about five 



SLACKWATEK ON THE OHIO. 75 

hundred feet, consequently the number of locks, allowing 
ten feet lift to each lock, will amount io fifty ^ or if the 
lift be five feet, which would be preferable, the number of 
locks required would be one hundred. The detention, 
occasioned by passing so many locks, would be very ob- 
jectionable; so much so, w^e think, as to render the whole 
scheme impracticable. 

6. By the introduction of locks and dams, the natural 
navigation would be effectually destroyed, except in high 
water, during which boats might pass over the dams for a 
small portion of the year only. 

7. The natural navigation of the Ohio is of too much 
consequence to be sacrificed for any method of artificial 
navigation that can be devised, and no form of improve- 
ment should be tolerated by means of which the natural 
channels of the river would be closed, for any period, 
however brief 

8. We are unable to form any opinion as to the effect 
which might be produced by so many dams, upon the 
high freshets of the Ohio. If the velocity of the current 
should be considerably retarded, so that the water should 
be carried off with less rapidity than heretofore, the volume 
would be greater, and the rise of water higher. Whether 
the small proportion, which the height of the dams would 
bear to the elevation of the whole river section, would so 
diminish this effect as to render it unimportant, we shall 
not undertake to decide; but hesitate not to say, that we 
should think the experiment eminently hazardous. It is 
not improbable that a few inches, and perhaps a few feet 
might, by this cause, be added to the floods; and, if so, 
the results, in the cases of such floods as those of 1832 
and 1847, would be very disastrous. 

But, while we object to the erection of dams and to 



76 SLACKWATER ON THE OHIO. 

every form of work which, under the name of improve- 
ment, shall in any manner obstruct the natural navigation 
of the river, we do not object to locks, if they can be con- 
structed without dams. We have no theory to advance, 
and no opinion to give upon this subject. Our govern- 
ment has in its service the best engineers in the world — 
men of talent, science, experience, and unsurpassed fidelity, 
to whose sphere of duties such questions properly belong. 
We only make the suggestion, whether there may not be 
places where no other dam would be requisite than the 
bar or rapid creating the obstruction ; and where the de- 
sired improvement might be made, by cutting a channel 
along the margin of the river, connecting the upper and 
lower pools, with depth sufficient for the passage of steam- 
boats, to be protected by heavy walls, and provided with 
locks. By this arrangement no impediment will be placed 
in the bed of the river ; and, the locks being so con- 
structed as not to drain the pools below their natural 
level, the navigation of the original channels would re- 
main unchanged. It is supposed that if the locks were 
kept open during high water, when they Avould not be in 
use, the water sweeping through them would carry off 
the mud, and prevent its deposition. If there be any fea- 
sibility in this plan, it is worthy of experiment; but we 
incline to the belief that locks so constructed, indeed any 
locks whatever, on this river, would be rendered useless 
by the accumulation of driftwood. 



KAPIDS OF THE OHIO. 77 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Louisville and Portland canal — its inadequacy — an extrava- 
gant tax on commerce — Captain Cram's reports — plans for the 
improvement of the navigation round the falls. 

The obstructions in these rivers consists of rocks^ bars, 
and sunken logs or snags. There are a few points on 
the Ohio river where rapids are created by ledges of 
rock; the most important of these are at Captina and Buf- 
fington's Island, and Le Tart's Falls, the Falls of Ohio, 
and the Grand Chain; and there are points where the 
navigation is not safe for as much water as is contained in 
the channel, in consequence of the existence of projecting 
rocks. The removal of rocks, and the improvement of 
all the rapids, except the Falls of Ohio, could be easily- 
accomplished. With regard to these rapids, and to the 
whole subject of the obstacles in the upper portion of the 
Ohio, we beg leave to refer to an able report made in 
1835, by Lieut. G. Button, of the U. S. engineers, which 
will be found on file in the War Department. Copious 
extracts from that report, and other descriptive informa- 
tion, connected with this part of the subject, may be found 
in the first series of this work. 

The most important obstruction in the navigation of the 
Western rivers, occurs at the Falls of the Ohio, which is 
too well known to require description. A fall of twenty- 
five feet in two miles, caused by a ledge of rocks extend- 
ing across the river, renders this object impassable for 



78 CANAL AT THE FALLS OF OHIO. 

steamboats, except during the high floods which occur 
usually in the spring, and continue for a few days only at 
a time. These rapids were formerly avoided by a labo- 
rious and expensive portage, extending from Louisville to 
Shippingsport, a distance of two and a half miles; but they 
are now passed by means of a canal. This work, which 
was intended as a facility to our commerce, and a benefit 
to the whole people of the West, has signally failed in 
accomplishing the purpose for which it was constructed; 
and as the government of the United States, with the be- 
neficent view of patronising a work of public utility, be- 
came a partner in this canal, it cannot be thought invidi- 
ous to call the attention of Congress to its deficiencies. 
The objections to this work are: 

1. The contracted size of the locks, which do not admit 
the passage of the largest class of boats. 

2. The insufficiency of the construction of the canal, 
which being deficient in width and depth, causes great de- 
lay, and often serious injury, to passing boats. 

3. The enormous and unreasonable tax levied in tolls. 
With regard to the first objection, we remark that the 

Louisville and Portland canal was intended to be a na- 
tional work, and stands connected with the commerce of 
the whole West. During the greater part of the year it 
affords the only outlet for the productions of the larger 
portion of the Ohio Valley, and the only channel of in- 
gress for the valuable imports of the same region. Such 
a work should have been constructed upon the most 
liberal scale, and its benefits extended to every class 
of the community. This is unfortunately not its charac- 
ter. After many years' experience, in the navigation of 
our rivers by steamboats, it has been ascertained that boats 
of a great length are those of the greatest speed, and best 



CANAL AT THE FALLS OF OHIO. 79 

suited to the navigation of our rivers, and the character of 
our trade. But the length v^hich has been found most 
convenient is greater than the dimensions of the locks of 
this canal; and thus the boats which are best adapted to 
the trade between Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and other ports 
on the upper Ohio, and St. Louis or New Orkans, are 
excluded from that commerce, and a smaller class of 
boats, which are much less profitable, is exclusively em- 
ployed. 

The second objection is one of not less forcible appli- 
cation to a work of this magnitude. The width of this 
canal is such, that steamboats cannot pass each other, 
within it, nor can a loaded boat work her way through, 
but by a protracted and laborious operation. As two 
boats passing, in opposite directions cannot enter the canal 
at the same time, the delays encountered here are very 
great, and add materially to the heavy tax paid more di- 
rectly in the form of toll, while the scanty dimensions of 
the channel, both in width and depth, expose boats to the 
continual danger of injury. If there were no other ob- 
jections, therefore, to this canal, it is insufficient in point 
of size, and does not afford the facilities required for the 
trade at this time; and it must become every year more ob- 
jectionable in this respect, in consequence of the rapid in- 
crease of our trade. 

To estimate fully the validity of this objection, it should 
be stated that these delays occur almost daily, during the 
busy season, and vary from a few hours to a whole day. 
The expenses of such a boat will be somewhere from $50 
to $100 per day, and that amount, or any large fraction of 
it, occurring only at each alternate trip, would in the 
course of a year form a large item, in the account of a 
single boat; but which multiplied by the number of boats 



80 LOUISVILLE AND PORTLAND CANAL. 

which suffer by the delaj^ would give a sum total of ac- 
tual loss to the commerce of the West, more than suffi- 
cient to pay for the annual repairs and custody of such a 
canal. It is proper to add, that these vexatious delays 
are inseparable from the nature of this work, which is 
constructed on a scale too limited for the purposes of its 
creation, or rather, whose dimensions, originally deemed 
sufficient, have been outgrown by the increase of the 
trade; and that we do not suggest them as evincing any 
delinquency on the part of the company. 

The insufficiency of this canal is by no means attribu- 
table, as a matter of censure, to the stockholders or their 
officers. We speak of it only in reference to the wants 
of our commerce. The work was commenced under the 
most discouraging circumstances, and was carried forward 
in the face of formidable obstacles, by an exertion of great 
enterprise and perseverance. It is a great and useful work, 
and affords facilities to commerce which, in comparison 
with the ancient mode of transporting goods round the 
Falls by portage, cannot be too highly appreciated. It is 
proper also to state, that before the dimensions of the locks 
were decided upon, the largest boats then afloat on the 
Ohio were measured, and the locks were made, as was 
supposed, of sufficient capacity to pass every description 
of river craft. The model of our boats has, however, been 
since changed, and the locks are now found to be entirely 
too small; while the vast increase of commerce has ren- 
dered the canal itself inadequate to the great purpose of 
its construction. 

But the third objection is that which is complained of 
as most grievous, and which demands the prompt interpo- 
sition of Congress. In presenting this important subject 
to the serious consideration of the public, we shall pro- 



LOUISVILLE AND PORTLAND CANAL. 81 

ceed to show the amount of commerce which passes 
through this canal — the amount of tolls received by the 
company — the exorbitant profits in which the government 
participates as a stockholder — and the unjust burthen im- 
posed upon the owners of vessels navigating the Ohio 
river. 

The following table, taken from the reports of the com- 
pany, shows the number of vessels which passed the canal, 
and the receipts of toll, from 1831 to 1847, inclusive: — 

Abstract of the Boats that have passed, and Tolls received on the 
Louisville and Portland Canal. 





Steamboats. 


Flat and Keelboats. Tons. 


Amount received. 


1831 


406 


421 


76,323 


$12,750 77 


1832 


453 


179 


70,109 


25,756 12 


1833 


875 


710 


169,985 


60,736 92 


1834 


938 


623 


162,000 


61,848 ]7 


1835 


1,256 


355 


200,413 


80,165 24 


1836 


1,182 


260 


182,220 


88,343 23 


1837 


1,501 


165 


242,374 


145,424 69 


1838 


1,058 


438 


201,750 


121,107 16 


1839 


1,666 


578 


300,406 


180,364 01 


1840 


1,231 


392 


224.841 


134,904 55 


1841 


1,031 


309 


189,907 


113,944 59 


1842 


983 


183 


172,755 


95,005 10 


1843 


1,206 


88 


232,264 


107,274 65 


1844 


1.476 


168 


304,384 


140,389 97 


1845 


1,585 


394 


318,741 


138,291 17 


1846 


1,626 


283 


341,695 


149,401 84 


1847 


1,432 


226 
5,772 


307,879 
3,698,266 


139,900 72 




19,875 


|1, 795,608 90 



The original subscription of the United States, to the 
Louisville and Portland canal, was $235,000, by which 
the government became the owner of two thousand three 
hundred and fifty shares of the stock. In June, 1833, a 
dividend was made in stock, for the amount of profit on 
the tolls up to that time, and interest on the money 



82 TOLLS ON THE CANAL. 

expended up to the time of opening the canal ; of which the 
proportion of the United States was five hundred and fifty- 
two additional shares, making the whole interest of the 
government two thousand nine hundred and two shares. 
The remainder of the stock, seven thousand and ninety- 
eight shares, was owned by individuals, making the whole 
number of shares ten thousand, and the capital $1,000,000. 
On this stock, the United States had received in cash divi- 
dends $258,378, being $23,378 more than her original 
subscription and entire advance in money. 

It thus appears that the canal, in twelve years, had 
more than paid for itself in dividends. The objection, 
however, is not that individuals should reap a profit 
on their investment, to which they are justly entitled; but 
that this useful and necessary facility for passing the falls 
should, by being placed in the hands of individuals, be 
the means of levying a tax on the trade of the river, so 
heavy as. to be a burthen. To show that this tax is intol- 
erably high, we state the following conclusive facts: A 
steamboat owned at Cincinnati, and plying regularly be- 
tween this city and St. Louis, is obliged to pass through 
this canal. The boat being of three hundred tons burthen, 
and worth $24,000 when new, has heretofore paid for 
each passage through the locks sixty cents per ton, or 
$180, and supposing the number of trips to be thirty in a 
year, the tolls will amount annually to $5,400, which is 
over twenty-two per cent., on its cost, and in five years, 
the full term of life of a western steamboat, will have 
exceeded the first cost of the boat. The toll, however, 
has lately, and since the above statement M^as first made, 
been reduced to fifty cents per ton, and a boat of three 
hundred tons will now pay but $4,500 for thirty trips, and 



TOLLS OF THE CANAL. 83 

will not expend her value in tolls in less than five and a 
half years. 

We state another fact, the particulars of which we have 
received from an authentic source, and which corroborates 
the instance given above. A boat of one hundred and 
ninety tons, owned at Cincinnati, has been in the habit of 
making her trips from this city to St. Louis and back, in 
two weeks, and has passed the canal four times in one 
month. Her toll, each trip, at $60 per ton, was $114, 
and her toll for one month was $456, or at the rate of 
$5,472 per year, which is nearly half the value of such a 
boat. It may be said, that no boat makes forty-eight trips, 
or even thirty trips between St. Louis and Cincinnati in a 
year, as the ice or low water would obstruct the naviga- 
tion at some seasons, and at others the boat might pass 
over the falls. But this is no answer to our argument, 
the object of which is to show that, during the season in 
which we use this canal, we pay an exorbitant tax which, 
reduced to a yearly rate, would swallow the value of a 
boat in a few years. 

This is a practical view of the subject, in regard to 
which there can be no doubt. The passage between St. 
Louis and Cincinnati is regularly made in from three to 
four days, and if three days be allowed for lading and un- 
lading at each place, which is more than is required, the 
fair time for the trip, both ways, will be two weeks. 
This is in fact about the average time consumed; and du- 
ring seasons in which the canal is used, these boats do 
actually pass the lock four times per month. The toll 
being now reduced to fifty cents per ton, a boat of two 
hundred tons, whose value, at $60 per ton, is $12,000, 
will pay, for each passage through the locks, $100, or at 
the rate of $400 per month, and $4,800 per year. 



84 TOLLS OF THE CANAL. 

The navigation of the Ohio below Cincinnati, and of 
the Mississippi below St. Louis, is not obstructed by ice 
and extreme low water, more than four months in the year j 
the navigation is open eight months, during which time 
the boats between Cincinnati and St. Louis may, and 
actually do run, and are actively employed. The freshets, 
which enable them to pass over the falls, are few, and of 
short duration, and should not be taken into view, in any 
estimate made for practical purposes; the toll, if any, 
should be such as the owners of boats could afford to pay 
throughout the season, and so certain that it could be cal- 
culated in advance as a regular item in the expenditure of 
the boat. Now if a boat passes the canal four times in a 
month, or thirty-iicc times in eight months, paying fifty 
cents per ton for each transit, she will pay $16 00 
per ton, in the eight months which are comprised in the 
running season, and in four seasons she will pay sixty-four 
dollars per ton, which is the full value of the boat. 

The capital invested in steamboats in the West must 
be re-produced every five years, as that is the term of the 
existence of a boat; and if this capital be subject to a tax 
of from twenty to thirty per cent, in tolls, and eighteen 
per cent, insurance, those boats which pass the canal will, 
in five years, pay double their cost, in freight and insu- 
rance. In other words, a steamboat, engaged in the regu- 
lar trade between Cincinnati and St, Louis, which cost 
$25,000 when new, must earn $75,000, to pay her cost, 
insurance and tolls, over and above her ordinary expenses, 
before she can begin to make profits for her owners. 
This expenditure is only reduced by the occurrence of 
freshets which enable the boats to pass over the falls, or 
by occasional trips to other ports. 

While our trade is burthened by this enormous tax, we 



STOCK OF THE CANAL. 85 

have shown that, for the use of an insufficient canal, the 
stockholders are reaping a high annual interest upon their 
investment, amounting probably to an average of twelve 
or thirteen per cent.; and the government of the United 
States is a partner in the gains of the profitable stock, 
having already received, for their subscription of $235,000, 
cash dividends amounting to $258,378, and stock amount- 
ing to $55,200, amounting, in all, to $313,578. 

So that the government has received back in dividends 
$78,578 more than her investment, and is the holder of 
nearly one-third of the shares of this money-making cor- 
poration. 

We repeat that no liberal man would object to paying 
a fair interest on the investment of those public spirited 
individuals, who have completed this useful work at their 
own risk. And however any may object, they have 
vested rights, which deserve respect, and around which 
the law has thrown her conservative sanction. The pub- 
lic voice, however, has condemned the levying of a tax 
on such a highway, and the high rate of the toll has in- 
creased the general dissatisfaction. To remedy this evil, 
an act has been passed by the legislature of Kentucky, 
authorising the canal company to appropriate the net 
annual income of the canal to the purchase of stock, held 
by others than the United States, at a rate commencing at 
$150 per share, and increasing annually by the addition 
of the interest on the value of the stock; and when the 
whole shall be purchased, to surrender the canal to the 
United States, on condition that the work shall be kept in re- 
pair, and that the tolls levied shall be no more than sufficient 
to pay the expenses of the custody, repairs, &c. There 
is a further condition, that the United States, after taking 
possession of the work, shall report annually to the legis- 



86 STOCK OF THE CANAL. 

lature of Kentucky, the amount of the receipts and ex- 
penditures, and making the latter body the judge, whether 
the conditions of the law are complied with. 

The stock of the canal, having become a safe and profit- 
able investment, the inducement to the acceptance of this 
law is by no means strong, and it would doubtless have 
been rejected, had the stockholders consuked only their 
present interest. But the universal condemnation of a 
tax, which all unite in pronouncing insupportably burthen- 
some, indicated to them, in significant language, the im- 
policy of provoking a high spirited people into an exer- 
cise of power, which might, by diverting the commerce 
into other channels, render their vi^ork of little value. 
They reluctantly consented to carry the act into effect j 
and they have reported that four hundred and seventy-one 
shares were purchased from the profits of 1843, and that 
five hundred shares Vv^ill be purchased in 1844. 

But will the United States await the tardy operation of 
this law, and will she accept the trust offered by it? If 
the net receipts of a year will only purchase five hundred 
shares, it will take fourteen years to buy seven thousand 
shares, at the same price; but as the price of the stock is 
to be annually increased, it will take longer. If the locks 
are to be enlarged by the company, and other improve- 
ments made, which are urgently and imperatively de- 
manded, and these expenditures deducted from the annual 
receipts, it will take at least tvjenty years to complete the 
purchase, and bring about the desired reduction of tolls — 
a delay to which the Western people are not willing to 
submit. And if the requisite improvements are to be 
delayed until the change of ownership shall be consum- 
mated, the just expectations of the Western people will be 
disappointed, for no unnecessary delay, not the delay of a 



ENLARGEMENT OF THE CANAL. 87 

year without unavoidable necessity, will be viewed with 
complacency by those who are interested in this nav- 
igation. 

Neither do we suppose that the United States will ac- 
cept the work, on the conditions imposed by the law of 
Kentucky, and hold it subject to the supervisory power 
of that State. The proposition is unreasonable, and will 
hardly be insisted upon, when its objectionable character 
shall be pointed out. 

We respectfully advise, we earnestly solicit, that an 
appropriation be made without delay, for the purchase of 
this canal, at a price conforming with the value which 
the stockholders have placed upon it by accepting the 
terms of the law above alluded to; and that measures be 
taken to procure the repeal of any law of Kentucky, by 
which the control of that State over the work is reserved. 
This purchase can be made, as will be seen from the above 
data, for a sum not varying far from one million of dol- 
lars; and by a further expenditure of from three to four 
hundred thousand dollars^ in making a new set of locks, 
to be additional to those now in operation, in deepening 
the canal, and in widening it in two or three places to 
admit the passage of boats, the requisite facilities for sur- 
mounting this formidable obstruction would be fully and 
promptly supplied. The canal might then either be sup- 
ported by the United States and made free, or a small toll 
might be imposed, sufficient to pay for the repairs and 
requisite attendance. That toll would probably not ex- 
ceed five cents per ton, or one-tenth of the tribute which 
is now levied upon the industry and enterprise of the 
Western people. 

In making this recommendation, we are influenced in 
some measure by the consideration that this work can be 



00 CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW CANAL. 

purchased as cheaply as a new canal could be constructed 
of similar length, and equal efficiency, and that such being 
the case, good feith suggests the purchase of the properly 
from the individuals who hold it under the sanction of a 
law of Kentucky, and in partnership with the govern- 
ment of the United States, rather than the construction of 
a rival work by which the value of this property would 
be destroyed; and we would arrive at the object sooner, 
by the purchase and improvement of this canal, than by 
the tedious process of constructing a new work. But if 
this purchase cannot be effected, or can only be accom- 
plished at an unreasonable price, or subject to burthen- 
some conditions, or vexatious delay, then we respectfully 
recommend the construction of a new work, upon the 
most eligible site, to be selected by the engineers of the 
government. 

There is, however, another very important considera- 
tion to be taken into view. Although we consider it es- 
sential that the government should purchase the Louisville 
and Portland canal, under any circumstances, it is equally 
desirable that a new canal should be constructed on the 
opposite side of the river. If the choice lay between 
these works, and Congress was restricted to the one or 
the other, we should be in favor of the purchase of the 
present canal, for the reasons we have stated. But there 
is no such restriction ; the power of Congress over this 
subject is not limited, and the expenditure should be com- 
mensurate with the necessities of commerce. 

There are two reasons why both these canals are re- 
quired. The first is, that if the Louisville canal be pur- 
chased, and its improvements began, before any other mode 
of passing the Falls shall be provided, the navigation of 
the Ohio will be interrupted during the progress of the 



CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW CANAL. 89 

work, which wiJl certainly occupy one year, and may be 
protracted through several. During the whole of that 
time the commerce of the Ohio would be interrupted; 
nothing could pass the Falls of Ohio except during the 
brief periods of high water, and the loss to the country 
would in one month exceed the wholt cost of repairing the 
present canal and making a new one. It would cause an 
absolute paralysis of the entire commerce of the Ohio 
valley, and produce a wide spread and disastrous crisis. 
It would occasion immense losses and failures, and over- 
spread the land with alarm and irritation. No prudent 
government would venture on such an experiment, no high 
spirited people would bear it. The losses already borne, 
in consequence of the supineness of the government in 
regard to these rivers, have awakened the people of the 
West to a sense of their wrongs, and any addition to the 
burthen they are now bearing would scarcely be tole- 
rated. 

The other reason why we urge the making of a new 
canal, as well as the improvement of the one now in use, 
is, that both will be required to afford the necessary facili- 
ties. The number of boats daily passing is now too large 
for one canal, and scarcely a day passes in which boats 
are not delayed at the locks, waiting for others to pass. 
Occasionally, and indeed, frequently, a number of steam- 
boats are collected there, awaiting their turn to pass 
through, and as but one can pass at a time, some of them 
are detained throughout the day. The loss to the whole 
commerce is even now very great, from the detention of 
boats at this point, and will continue to be so, even after 
the proposed improvement of the canal shall enable it to 
pass boats with the greatest facility of which such a work 
is susceptible. What then will be the case when our 
8 



90 CAPTAIN cram's REPORT 

trade upon the river shall be doubled, trebled, and even 
quadrupled, as it is destined soon to be? Is it not evident 
that one canal will be wholly insufficient? We think 
there can be no doubt about it. 

For these reasons we think that the Western people 
should insist upon the immediate construction of a canal 
around the falls, on the Indiana side of the river, as well 
as the purchase of the Louisville and Portland canal. 
At the latter, the new locks might be commenced upon 
the plan recommended in the report of Captain Cram, 
and such other improvements as could be carried on with- 
out obstructing the navigation of the canal, which should 
be kept open until the completion of the canal on the other 
side of the river, after which the Louisville and Portland 
canal should be deepened and widened to the full capa- 
city requisite for so important a work. 

To support this view of the subject, I quote from the 
valuable report of Captain Cram, the following remarks: 

" If the wants of the commerce of the Ohio are to be 
answered by one canal around the falls, adapted to both 
an ascending and descending navigation, for the present 
business, as well as for that of a few years to come, I 
am of opinion that the best mode will be, for the United 
States either to purchase all the remaining stock of indi- 
viduals, (six thousand one hundred and iifty-one shares 
only) and the dry dock, and to make improvements in the 
existing canal during the years 1844, 1845, and 1846, to 
the amount of $355,298, and commence as soon as possi- 
ble, charging tolls only sufficient to maintain the canal in 
perfect order, provided the state of Kentucky will give 
the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the whole 
subject; or if the stock cannot be purchased at a fair price. 



ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW CANAL. 91 

then the best plan for the United States would be to con- 
struct a new canal on the Indiana side. 

" Under the most favorable circumstances of water, it 
would take about two years to make all the required im- 
provements in the existing canal, to the amount of the esti- 
mate, $355,298 ; and in the contingency which ought to 
be counted, of unusual or extreme high stage of water, at 
least three years. During all this time it would certainly 
be very difficult, although it might not be impossible, to 
economically execute the improvements without stopping 
the navigation of the canal ; and thus the contingency 
might occur, of being under the necessity of interrupting 
the present train of business on the river. The number 
of passages of boats of all classes, through the existing 
canal, has been at the rate of one thousand four hundred 
and thirty per year. To interrupt, for a period of two or 
three years, the regular trade carried on by so many 
boats, would very seriously derange the whole system of 
commercial business, in so far as relates to navigation, not 
only upon the Ohio, but throughout the whole Mississippi 
valley, 

"This evil would be wholly obviated by constructing a 
new canal on the Indiana side. 

"These considerations, together with the greatly in- 
creasing commerce of that valley, lead to the question of 
providing for two canals around the falls of the Ohio; one 
for a descending^ and one for an ascending navigation. 
In the project of two canals^ the proposed passing places 
in the improvements of the existing canal would of course 
be dispensed with ; but the proposed new locks could not 
be omitted inasmuch as the existing locks are not large 
enough for all classes of boats. Also, in the proposed 
canal on the Indiana side, (route No. 1,) should dispense 



92 THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW CANAL. 

with the three passing places, and make only a single 
instead of a double group of locks. 

" In this view of the question of improving the navi- 
gation of the falls, the items to be estimated for, to accom-. 
plish the end, would be as follows: 

New canal on route No I, Indiana side, $1,177,802 

Improvements in the existing canal, 283,054 

Purchase of the existing dry-dock, 50,000 

Purchase of six thousand one hundred and fifty- 
one shares stock, yet belonging to individuals, 
at $140 per share, 861,140 



Total, $2,371,996 

" The total cost, it will be seen, may be varied from the 
above, by simply inserting a different price for the stock. 

"Should this mode of improving that navigation be 
adopted, the expense of maintaining both canals would 
be more, by about one half, than for a single canal adapted 
to both the ascending and descending navigation; and in- 
stead of $25,000, as shown in 4, we should have to 
provide $37,500 annually, for all the necessary repairs, 
expenses of custody, &c.,for both canals. If this sum be 
realised from tolls, the charge would be about eighteen 
cents upon each ton of freight, or twelve cents upon each 
ton of a boat's measurement ; but the tolls would diminish 
in proportion to the increase of business. 

"After comparing all the projects discussed in this re- 
port, their cost, their merits and demerits, for prospective 
business as well as for present purposes, it is probable that 
"the best mode of improving the navigation of the Ohio 
at the falls," will be to purchase all the remaining six thou- 
sand one hundred and fifty-one shares of stock belonging 
to individuals of the existing canal company, and the dry- 



CANAL ON THE INDIANA SIDE. 93 

dock, and make improvements in the existing canal, to 
adapt it to navigation one wa3',(to the amount of $283,054;) 
and at the same time construct a new canal on route No. 
1, Indiana side, adapted to a navigation in a contrary way, 
(at a probable cost of $1,177,802,) and charge tolls only 
sufficient to maintain the canals, &c." 

We subjoin an abstract of the boats that have passed, 
and the tolls received on the canal, from 1831 to 1847 
inclusive, by which it will appear that the number of 
boats, of every description, which passed the canal in 1846, 
was one thousand nine hundred and nine, instead of one 
thousand four hundred and thirty, as estimated by Captain 
Cram, in 1843. For the next two or three years, the 
average number will not be less than two thousand, which 
number may be safely assumed as the basis of the argu- 
ment, while the sum received for tolls will be about 
$155,000. Should the government therefore purchase 
this work now, and reduce the tolls to a rate which would 
produce $25,000 per year, the annual saving to the 
western commerce would be $130,000. 

The number of shares held by individuals in 1843, was 
six thousand one hundred and fifty-one, while the govern- 
ment owned three thousand eight hundred and forty-nine 
shares; but at the close of 1846, there were held by indi- 
viduals but three thousand nine hundred and eighty-two 
shares, and by the United States six thousand and 
eighteen. 

The report of the canal company, for 1847, shows a 
balance appropriated to the purchase of five hundred 
and twenty-six shares of stock, which added to those pur- 
chased in the four previous years, will make six thousand 
five hundred and forty-four owned by the government, 
or retired, leaving three thousand four hundred and 



94 CANAL ON THE INDIANA SIDE. 

fifty-six shares owned by individuals, to be hereafter 
liquidated. It has been suggested that this improvement 
might be effected by excavating a channel through the 
falls. The practicability of this plan has not been 
demonstrated, and even if a safe passage of the falls could 
be produced by cutting through the rock, we should 
deprecate the attempt. The natural dam formed by this 
ledge of rock being removed, a series of rapids or bars 
in the channel above would probably be produced, which 
would greatly injure the navigation. 



EAPIDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 95 



CHAPTER VII. 

Upper and Lower Rapids of the Mississippi. 

The Upper and Lower Rapids of the Upper Missis- 
sippi present formidable obstructions to the navigation of 
that noble river, and impede the access to one of the most 
productive and beautiful regions of the habitable globe. 
These impediments, consisting of ledges of rock which 
lie across the river, are extensive, and during the seasons 
of low water render this fine river wholly impassable for 
freighted boats, which are obliged to be unladen and 
lighted over the rapids ; and causing the expense of freight 
to increase by double and three-fold, at such seasons. Yet 
they are of such a character as to be susceptible of remo- 
val at a comparitively small expense. Above these rapids 
the river is navigable to the Falls of St. Anthony, distant 
from St. Louis nine hundred miles. In their vicinity, and 
beyond them, lies a wide expanse of country, embracing a 
large portion of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, of incom- 
parable, fertility and inexhaustible resources — a region of 
prairies teeming with vegetative power, and ready cleared 
to the hand of the husbandman. Equally adapted to the 
growth of wheat, the rearing of cattle, and the production 
of wool, — this country already, although in its infancy, 
affords a large surplus for exportation ; and so vast is the 
extent of its rich lands, that the increase of its staples is 
great, beyond conception. The country over which, thir- 



96 THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

leen years ago, the militia of Illinois chased the bands of 
Black-Hawk, and in which the Sauks, the Sioux, and the 
Winnebagoes contended for mastery, furnished during the 
past year the freights for two hundred and forty-four steam- 
boats and fifty -five keels ! 

In the same region are lead mines, in prosperous opera- 
tion, which supply annually to commerce forty millions 
pounds of lead, included in the above estimate, worth 
$1,000,000, and supposed to be capable of supplying that 
metal in sufficient quantities to meet the demands of the 
civilized world ; while the copper mines, recently opened, 
are also becoming valuable. To show further the pro- 
ductiveness, of a country so recently a wilderness, and 
still only known in that character to most of the Ameri- 
can people, we state that in 1840, nine counties, in the 
southern part of Wisconsin, produced one hundred ninety- 
seven thousand and two hundred and twenty-five bushels 
of wheat, twenty-five thousand nine hundred and sixty-six 
head of cattle, forty-five thousand one hundred and thirty- 
six hogs, and seven thousand five hundred and sixty-four 
tons of lead. If such are the products of a sm.all and re- 
mote district of a newly settled land, how prolific must be 
the broad region in which it lies! How impossible to 
calculate the wealth of the Great West, when single 
counties estimate their products by such imposing figures! 

It appears from data kept at St. Louis, that the naviga- 
tion of the Upper Mississippi was clear of ice, in 1841, 
eight months, in 1842 eight months and seven days, and 
in 1843 seven months and eleven days. As the naviga- 
tion of this vast region is closed by the immutable laws 
of nature during four months of the year, the duty of the 
government is the more imperative, to keep it open during 



THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 97 

the other eight months, into which all the business done 
upon its waters must be crowded. 

The arrivals of boats from the Upper Mississippi, at St. 
Louis, during three years, were as follows: — 

Steamboats. Keelboats. 

1841 143 108 

1842 195 88 

1843 244 55 

The emigration to this favored region is great ; the re- 
cent completion of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and 
the connection between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, 
which cannot be long delayed, will give it peculiar attrac- 
tions; and as the proprietor of by far the greater part of the 
domain, the government is invited by interest, as well as by 
duty, to open the navigable channels of the country, and 
thus accelerate its settlement, and promote the sale of her 
own lands. 

But we advocate the improvement of this river, as well 
as the Illinois, the Wabash, and the Ohio, with the more 
confidence, as two of them are already connected with the 
lakes by canals, and the other two will soon be similarly 
connected, and they are thus emphatically great national 
highways, connecting the north and the south, the east 
and the west, and bringing distant and apparently discor- 
dant interests into harmonious co-operation. 

We extract the following remarks from the St. Louis 
Report: 

" The Lower or Des Moines Rapids, of the Mississippi 
are two hundred and four miles above St. Louis, and be- 
yond the mouth of the Des Moines river, whence they de- 
rive their name. Commencing a little above Keokuk, 
the Rapids extend nearly up to Montrose, or old Fort 
Des Moines, opposite to which is the town of Nauvoo. 
The length of the Rapids is estimated at eleven miles, 



98 UPPER RAPIDS. 

having a fall of twenty-four feet. ' Here,' says Professor 
Nicollet, 'the Mississippi tumbles over ledges of a hlue 
limestone, at all times covered with more or less water, 
and through which many crooked channels have been 
worn by the action of the current. During low stages of 
the water, the passage of the Rapids is very difficult, as 
well in consequence of the shallowness of the w^ater, as 
the narrowness and tortuousness of the channel, so that 
the time of practicable steamboat navigation is shortened 
by nearly three months in the year, which is about the 
duration of low water in the river.' This, together with 
the closing of the navigation by winter for nearly four 
months more, reduces the season of practicable steamboat 
navigation to about five montlis in the year. A system of 
improvements was commenced by Capt. Lee, of the U. S. 
Corps of Engineers, under the authority of the govern- 
ment, and continued with satisfactory results until the ap- 
propriation was exhausted. 

" The Upper or Rock River Rapids, so named from their 
proximity to Rock River, are from fourteen to fifteen miles 
long, extending from Rock Island to near Port Byron on 
the left, and Parkhurst, on the right side of the river. 
The fall, according to Capt. Lee, from the head to the foot 
of the Rapids, is twenty-five and three-quarters (25|) feet, 
and very much of the character of the Lower Rapids. 
In consequence of the short turns and narrowness of the 
passes between the reefs, boats cross the current obliquely, 
and run great risk of destruction. Capt. Lee has demon- 
strated the practicability of removing these obstacles, so 
as to afford a safe passage up and down both Rapids, and 
thus a continuous navigation from the Gulf of Mexico to 
the Falls of St. Anthony, of two thousand two hundred 
miles. At a point called the English Turn, where Capt. 



UPPER KAPIDS. 99 

Lee .worked out a channel eighty feet in width, it is al- 
leged that no accident has occurred since the improve- 
ment was made. It has been estimated that the cost of 
improving both Rapids would be about $260,000. The 
river and the country above these Rapids are as beautiful 
and inviting as any part of the Valley of the Mississippi, 
and the soil offers substantial inducements to settlers, either 
in fertility or mineral riches. The northern part of Illi- 
nois, the new States of Iowa and Wisconsin, the virgin 
territory of Minesota, and the government itself, are all 
deeply interested in the perfection of this navigation. The 
government passes these Rapids with its proceeds of land 
sales, with its supplies for the military posts at Prairie du 
Chien and on the St, Peters, and for the Indian tribes situ- 
ated on their head waters. We are informed, by one of 
the most experienced and respectable captains in the trade, 
that, for the last twenty years, there have been runnirag 
upon the Upper Mississippi an annual average of fifteen 
steamboats, which have annually paid $3,000 each, for 
lighterage and detention at the Lower and Upper Rapids, 
or an annual aggregate of $45,000. The present num- 
ber of boats running upon that part of the river is stated 
to be thirty, which, according to the preceding result, are 
paying $90,000 per annum, simply upon account of the 
Rapids. This enormous sum is levied upon the produce 
of the farmers and miners of the upper country. 

"By a comparison of tables of freights and charges 
made when the water was high enough for boats to pass 
the Rapids without discharging their cargoes, with freight 
and charges when the water was too low, it has been as- 
certained that the increased charges are about one hun- 
dred and fifty per cent. When the extent of the lead trade 
of Galena, Wisconsin, and Iowa, is considered, (about 



100 COMMERCE OF IOWA. 

seven hundred thousand pigs in 1845,) the largest portion 
of which has to be exported when the waters are low; 
the amount of agricultural and other products, and the 
imports of necessary articles from other parts of the Union, 
and from foreign countries, amounting to several millions 
of dollars annually, all of which is subjected to this in- 
crease of freight and charges; and when to this we add 
the number of travelers, which may be safely set down at 
from twenty to thirty thousand annually, subject to the 
same increase of charges on this account ; some idea may 
be formed of the amount of injury which the community sus- 
tains, over and above the loss from the detention and injury 
of boats and cargoes. It is asserted by men practically in- 
formed on the subject, that the increase of freights and 
charges caused by these obstructions would, in any 'one 
year, more than quadruple the cost of all needful im- 
provements." *' 

The following extract from a report made by a Com- 
mittee of the citizens of Burlington, Iowa, of the business 
of that town, for the year ending June, 1847, will afford 
an accurate conception of the effect of the Rapids upon 
the commerce of that single town : 

" They find, after thorough examination of the receipts 
and shipments of the different mercantile houses, that there 
have been imported to Burlington, 687 tons salt; 305 tons 
iron, stoves and castings; 2,784 tons merchandise — ma- 
king 3,776 tons, at an average freight of $6 per ton, 
$22,650. 

" The amount of produce shipped from Burlington is 
found to be as follows, viz: 16,354 bushels of oats; 1 18,228 



* Report of committee on western rivers, at Memphis, 1845, 
A. B. Chambers. 



COMMERCE OF IOWA. 101 

bushels corn; 207,948 do. wheat; 666 do. beans; 500 
do. flaxseed; 1,847 do. barley; 32,821 bbls. flour; 384 
do. whiskey; 1,643 tons pork, bacon and lard; 150 tons 
hay; 23 do. dry hides — which is found to be equal to 14,- 
250 tons at an average of $6, is $71,250. 
" Number of steamboat arrivals, 524. 

" Number of cabin passengers from St. Louis to Bur- 
lington, estimated to be 10 to each arrival, 5,230, at an 
average of $5 each, - . . - ^25,150 00 

Number of deck passengers, estimated at 15 to each 
arrival, 7,845, at an average of $2 50, - 19,612 50 

Number of horses, carriages, wagons, &c., 1,000, at 
an average fare of $5, - - - - 5,000 00 



^144,668 50 
From which deduct the probable amount of freight 
and fare if the obstructions were removed from the 

Eapids, viz., 3,776 tons freight imported at $2 50 $9,440 00 

14,250 tons freight exported at $2 - - 28,500 00 

5,230 cabin passengers at |3 - - 15,090 00 

1,845 deck, do $150 - - 11,767 50 



$79,151 00 
To which should be added for losses by detention 
arising from re-shipping, towing and additional insu- 
rance, . . - . . 10,000 00 
For loss of keel and flatboats, and their cargoes, 10,500 00 
For depreciation in value of all surplus which finds 
a'market through this point, estimated to be, the pres- 
ent year, $504,000, at 10 per cent., - 50,040 00 

Estimated loss to steamboat owners, merchants and 
Insurance offices from stranded boats and loss of car- 
goes, which your committee have not the means of as- 
certaining, say, - - - - $10,000 00 



$159,691 00 



102 LEAD TRADE AT GALENA, 

" The steamboat arrivals at St. Louis from the Upper 
Mississippi, for five years, were as follows : 





Steamboats. 


Keelboats. 


1841, 


143 


108 


1842, 


195 


88 


1843, 


244 


6.5 


1845, 


647 


not reported. 


1846, 


663 


do." 



The city of Galena, situated in the north-western part 
of Illinois, on a small tributary of the Mississippi, about 
700 miles above St. Louis, and in the vicinity of the lead 
mines, exports more than any other town above St. Louis, 
on the Mississippi. Its exports of lead amounted in 1846 
to 672,420 pigs, worth about $2,225,000 ; exports of cop- 
per, about $22,000; lumber about $100,000; hides about 
$14,000; wheat, 150,000 bushels. In 1844, there were 
308 steamboat arrivals, of 53,900 tons, in 1846, 333 arri- 
vals, with 58,275 tons. 

The country of the upper Mississippi, tributary to St. 
Louis, may be considered as including Missouri, the north- 
western half of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, with a vast 
tract of unsettled country lying still further to the north 
and west. With the exception of the settlements in the 
immediate vicinity of St. Louis, nearly the whole of this 
tract was a wilderness twenty years ago; a large portion 
of it within fifteen years. Thirty years ago there were 
scarcely any inhabitants in Illinois north of Vandalia. 
which is on the same parallel with St. Louis; and the 
Indians had the sole possession of Iowa. The writer 
traversed extensive tracts of that country, between the 
years 1820 and 1830, while it was yet untrodden save by 
the foot of the hunter and the Indian, and while the native 
forest and prairie retained their pristine character, un- 



THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 103 

changed by the hand of cultivation. In 1846 Mr. Brad- 
ford, in his " Notes on the North Western States," esti- 
mates the population at seven hundred and fifty thousand 
souls, and it may now be safely set down at one million. 

This wide region is an almost unbroken plain of rich 
land. There is no range of mountains within it, and 
scarcely a tract that could properly be called hilly. Vast 
plains, sometimes level, often beautifully rolling or undu- 
lating, composed of a rich dark loam, of unsurpassed 
productiveness, spread on every hand. It is the region of 
the broad prairie — the paradise of flowers and wild honey 
bees. 

The whole of this .extensive country is peculiarly con- 
genial to the growth of wheat and other small grain. 
Not only is the product of the wheat crop large, but the 
grain remarkably fine ; the flour of the St. Louis market 
being fully equal to that of Baltimore, heretofore consid- 
ered the best in the Union. The crops of the Indian 
corn are scarcely less abundant and fine, this region being, 
in regard to that grain, inferior only to the country lying 
immediately south of it. The actual products of these grains 
over so wide a surface is immense ; and the quantities of 
beef, pork, and whisky are consequently great. In the 
northern parts of this district, the potatoes are excellent, 
and very productive ; and in the southern parts hemp and 
tobacco are among the great staples. 

Lead, iron, and copper are very abundant. The lead 
mines are sufficiently extensive and productive to supply 
the world. The iron mountain, of Missouri, is a stu- 
pendous mass of that mineral, in so pure a state that the 
ore is taken from the mine, without the intermediate 
process of smelting, directly to the forge, and wrought into 
fabrics of iron. The wife of a distinguished senator from 



104 THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 

Missouri presented to President Van Buren a very 
handsome knife, made in that manner from the ore of the 
iron mountain, by a blacksmith of the country. 

The copper mines have but lately begun to be worked. 
There is no doubt, however, that the metal exists in great 
abundance, and is destined to become an important staple 
for trade and manufacture. Zinc also is found in great 
plenty, though not brought into use. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 105 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Western steamboats — origin and early history to the year 1832 — 
list of steamboats navigating the Western rivers down to 1832. 

When we consider the unexampled rapidity with which 
the Western States have acquired population and impor- 
tance, we are surprised, not only at that fact, but at the 
inadequate ideas which have heretofore prevailed as to 
the magnitude and resources of this country. We are a 
traveling and a calculating people, and it seems strange 
that those who visited the Western wilds in early times 
should not have foreseen the events which have since 
transpired. That they did make golden reports, we are 
aware; but contrary to all experience in similar cases, 
those reports have fallen far short of the truth, and all that 
has been dreamed and prophesied in relation to this region, 
by its most sanguine admirers, has been more than real- 
ised. When a few hunters, encamped in the forests of 
Kentucky, heard the rumor of the battle of Lexington, 
and gave that name to the spot on which they reposed, 
how little could they have imagined, that within the du- 
ration of one human life, a town of excelling beauty, and 
a population remarkable for its intelligence and refinement, 
would spring to maturity in these shades— or that in the 
wilderness beyond them, a population would grow up 
within the same period, superior in number to that which 
was then contending for independence, against the most 



106 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

powerful nation of Europe ! But when intelligent men, 
with better opportunities for observation, explored this 
region after the germs of its greatness had begun to ex- 
pand, even they had but faint conceptions of its destiny. 
We shall endeavor to assign a few reasons why this 
country was thus underrated, and why it has outstripped 
the largest calculations which were made in its favor. 

Fifty years ago, it was known that the Western lands 
were fertile, and watered by fine rivers, and settlements 
were made on the eastern sides of the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi. But the inhabitants were exposed to the hostile 
attacks of the Indians, who occupied the whole region to 
the west and north, except a few spots held by the French. 
The hostile dispositions of the Indian tribes, and their 
superiority of numbers, rendered it dangerous to explore 
any part of the country in which they hunted, and im- 
practicable to visit large portions of it. It was therefore 
but partially explored, and immense districts, which are 
now considered in all respects the most desirable, were 
then totally unknown. As the Indians retired, the coun- 
try came into notice, as a fine landscape painting is dis- 
closed by the gradual rising of a curtain. The parts that 
were settled were continually subject to invasion, and the 
inhabitants dreadfully harrassed. The most shocking 
enormities were perpetrated ; and only the hardiest pio- 
neers ventured to reside near the frontier, or to explore 
the lands in the vicinity of such dangerous neighbors. 
Those atrocities no longer occur; the powerful arm of 
our government, and the mild influence of its pacific in- 
stitutions, are felt from the Atlantic to the Rocky moun- 
tains, and on the- remotest frontier, the dwelling of the 
pioneer is sacred. The murder of a white man by an 
Indian is now of rare occurrence; more rare than the 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 107 

murder of white men by each other ; and the massacre of 
a family is no longer apprehended. This happy change 
has taken place since the last war with Great Britain; 
and we may attribute the rapid growth of the Western 
country, within the last twenty-five years, chiefly to the se- 
curity with which it has been explored and made known, 
and the safety enjoyed by the people, who have thus been 
enabled to spread over the surface in every direction. 

The reputed unhealthiness of the Western country 
was a great obstacle to its early settlement. The entire 
history of our population, from the landing of our ances- 
tors on the Atlantic coast until now, shows that new set- 
tlements are generally subject to violent, and rapidly fatal 
diseases ; those west of the mountains have not been more 
greatly afflicted in this way than others of older date, but 
the pioneers suffered sufficiently to excite the alarm of the 
timid, and to give rise to reports which were greatly ex- 
aggerated. 

The country was at first difficult of access; indeed, for 
all the beneficial purposes of commerce, it was almost in- 
accessible. The port of New Orleans, and the country 
bordering on the Mississippi, were held by Spain, by 
whom our right to navigate that river was denied. Had 
the latter privilege been conceded to us, the possession by 
a foreign power of the only port of entry, and place of 
deposit, which was accessible to the Western people, must 
have rendered the trade in that direction precarious, by 
subjecting it to expensive duties, and frequent interrup- 
tions. Setting these difficulties aside. New Orleans was 
not then, as it is now, a large commercial city ; it was a 
small town, without capital or enterprise, and reputed to 
be so fatally unhealthy, that its future growth was con- 
sidered as entirely improbable. And, the navigation from 



108 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

that place, to our northern ports, on the Atlantic coast, 
was, as it still remains to a considerable extent, dangerous 
and expensive; while the ascent of the Mississippi, against 
its mighty current, by means of the boats then in use, was 
a slow and most laborious process. 

The communication through our own interior was quite 
as unpromising. The Allegheny ridge formed a barrier, 
which was then almost impassable. The width of this 
chain is seldom less than sixty miles ; and it presents in 
its whole extent a series of mountains, cliffs, and chasms, 
as wild and hideous in their appearance, as they seem in- 
surmountable in their character. No practical man of 
that day imagined the remote probability of constructing 
a good road through this district. To climb its precipi- 
ces, to hew down its rocks, to throw bridges over its gulfs, 
to pass its headlong torrents — in short, to enable the 
traveler to journey with ease and rapidity over this alpine 
region, has been the recent work of genius and enter- 
prise, and the result of a spirit peculiar to our own times. 

The purchase of Louisiana, the free navigation of the 
Mississippi, the increased importance of the New Orleans 
market, the improvements in the coasting navigation, the 
New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio canals, and the turn- 
pikes which cross the mountains at various points, may 
be set down as among the causes which have led to the 
rapid growth of this country; and it may be added, that 
many of these events were as unforseen as they have been 
eminently great and advantageous. Some of them have 
all the brilliancy of splendid achievement, and all of them 
have contributed to increase the wealth, and elevate the 
character of the nation. 

The introduction of steamboats upon the Western wa- 
ters deserves a separate mention, because it has contribu- 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 109 

ted more than any other single cause, perhaps more than 
all other causes which have grown out of human skill, 
combined, to advance the prosperity of the West. The 
striking natural features of this country are, its magni- 
tude — its fertility — its mineral wealth — the number and 
extent of its rivers. Its peculiar adaptation to commercial 
purposes, is evident. The richness of the soil, and the 
abundance of all the useful minerals, combine to render 
agricultural labors easy, cheap, and greatly productive. 
The amount of produce raised for consumption, and for 
export, is great; and the people are therefore not only 
able, but liberally disposed, to purchase foreign products. 
They do, in fact, live more freely, and purchase more 
amply, than the farmers of any other country. The 
amount, therefore, of commercial capital employed, as 
compared with the amount of population, is great; and 
the vast superficial extent of country, over which these 
operations may be extended with safety and facility, and 
whose products may be exchanged, concentrated, or dis- 
tributed, is unexampled. There is nothing, in the topo- 
graphy of any other country, to compare with the Western 
rivers. The Mississippi and her tributaries may be nav- 
igated in various directions, to the distance of two thou- 
sand miles from the ocean ; and every portion of this 
immense plain is intersected by these natural canals. In 
these respects nature has been prodigal ; it was left to 
human skill and energy to turn her gifts to the best 
advantage, and never was the intellect of man more use- 
fully employed than in the discovery and successful intro- 
duction of steam navigation. It was all that the Western 
country needed ; and the name of Fulton should be cher- 
ished here with that of Washington ; if the one conducted 
us to liberty, the other has given us prosperity — the one 



110 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

broke the chains which bound us to a foreign country ; 
the other has extended the channels of intercourse, and 
multiplied the ties which bind us to each other. 

The rapidity with which new channels of trade have 
been opened, and are now daily becoming developed, is 
astonishing; but the improvements in navigation, and in the 
facilities for transporting merchandise by land and water, 
have been infinitely greater and more remarkable. 

It is needless to do more than mention the Indian canoe, 
the smallest and rudest of boats, but which, at a period 
but little beyond the memory of living witnesses, was the 
only vessel that navigated our western rivers. For the 
purpose of commerce they were entirely inadequate, and 
were never used in any regular branch of trade. 

Previous to their intercourse with the whites, the canoes 
of the Indians must have been much more unwieldy, and 
imperfect, than any that are now in use. They had no 
tools except the clumsy axes made of stone, of which we 
see specimens in our museums; and their canoes were 
made of solid logs by burning away the part intended to 
be removed. Some of the most distant tribes, who have 
little trade with our people, still pursue the same laborious 
and unsatisfactory process. When iron tools were intro- 
duced, the canoe assumed the present shape. 

The birch canoe is peculiar to the northern regions, 
where the tree which supplies the bark is found. These 
also were probably of the most crude and awkward con- 
struction, previous to the visits of the French traders, under 
whose directions they acquired the lightness, strength, and 
beauty, which have given them their celebrity. 

The earliest improvement upon the canoe was the pi- 
rogue, an invention of the whites. Like the canoe, this 
boat is hewed out of the solid log; the difference is, that 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. Ill 

the pirogue has greater width and capacity, and is com- 
posed of several pieces of timber — as if the canoe was 
sawed lengthwise into two equal sections, and a broad flat 
piece of timber inserted in the middle, so as to give greater 
breadth of beam to the vessel. This was probably the 
identical process by which the Europeans, unable to pro- 
cure planks to build boats, began in the first instance to en- 
large canoes, to suit their purposes. They were often 
used as ferryboats, to transport horses across our rivers, 
and we have frequently seen them in operation, of a suffi- 
cient size to effect their object in perfect safety. 

These were succeeded by the barge, the keel, and the 
flatboat Of the two first, the barge was the largest, had 
the greatest breadth, and the best accommodations for pas- 
sengers, the keel was longer, had less depth, and was bet- 
ter fitted to run in narrow and shallow channels. They 
were navigated by a rude and lawless class of men, who 
became distinguished as well for their drolleries, as for 
their predatory and ferocius habits. In the then thinly 
scattered state of the population, their numbers rendered 
them formidable, as there were few villages on the rivers, 
and still fewer settlements, which contained a sufficient 
number of able bodied men to cope with the crew of a 
barge, consisting usually of thirty or forty hands; while 
the arrival of several of these boats together made them 
completely masters of the place. Their mode of life, and 
the facilities they possessed for evading the law, were such 
as would naturally make them reckless. Much of the 
distance through which they traveled in their voyages 
was entire wilderness, where they neither witnessed the 
courtesies of life, nor felt any of the restraints of law; and 
where for days, perhaps weeks, together, they associated 
only with each other. The large rivers whose meanders 



112 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

they pursued formed the boundaries of states, so that liv- 
ing continually on the lines which divided different civil 
jurisdictions, they could pass with ease from one^to the 
other, and never be made responsible to any. 

One of the earliest attempts at an intercourse with New 
Orleans, by the river, is so remarkable as to deserve a 
separate mention. In 1776, Messrs. Gibson and Linn, the 
grandfather of Dr. Linn, now a senator in Congress from 
Missouri, descended by water from Pittsburgh to New 
Orleans, to procure military stores for the troops stationed 
at the former place. They completely succeeded in their 
hazardous enterprise, and brought back a cargo of one 
hundred and thirty-six kegs of gunpowder. On reaching 
the falls of Ohio, on their return in the spring of 1777, 
they were obliged to unload their boats, and carry the 
cargo round the rapids, each of their men carrying three 
kegs at a time on his back. The powder was delivered 
at Wheeling, and afterwards transported to Fort Pitt. 

The character of Mike Fink, "the last of the boatmen," 
has been rendered familiar to most readers, by the pen of 
one of our best writers. He was a leader of the men of 
his own class; and was famous for his herculean strength, 
his contempt of danger, his frolics, and his depredations. 
He was a coarse, vulgar, desperate man — yet possessed a 
degree of humor, hilarity, and openness, that made him 
remarkable, and conciliated for him a sort of popularity, 
which caused him to be universally known, and still pre- 
serves his name in tradition. In his calling, as master of 
a boat, he was faithful — a quality which seems to have 
belonged to most of his class; for it is a singular fact, 
that lawless and wild as these men were, the valuable car- 
goes of merchandise committed to their care, and secured 
by no other bond than their integrity, were always carried 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 113 

safely to their places of destination, and the traveler, how- 
ever weak, or however richly freighted, relied securely on 
their protection. 

In the earlier periods of this navigation, the boats em- 
ployed in it were liable to attacks from the Indians, who 
employed a variety of artifices to decoy the crews into 
their power. Sometimes a single individual, disguised in 
the apparel of some unhappy white man, who had fallen 
into their hands, appeared on the shore making signals of 
distress, and counterfeiting the motions of a wounded man. 
The crew supposing him to be one of their countrymen, 
who had escaped from- the Indians, would draw near the 
shore for the purpose of taking him on board ; nor would 
they discover the deception until, on touching the bank, a 
fierce band of painted warriors would rush upon them 
from an artfully contrived ambuscade. Sometimes the 
savages crawled to the water's edge, wrapped in the skins 
of bears, and thus allured the boatmen, who were ever 
ready to exchange the oar for the rifle, into their power. 
But the red warriors were often sufficiently numerous to 
attempt, by open violence, that which they found it difficult 
to accomplish by artifice, against men as wary, and as ex- 
pert in border warfare, as themselves ; and boldly pursued 
the boats in their canoes, or rushed upon the boatmen, 
when the incidents or the perils of their navigation drove 
them to the shore. 

These boats, but rarely using sails, and receiving only 
an occasional impulse from their oars, descended the stream 
with a speed but little superior, at any time, to that of the 
current ; while they met with many accidents and delays 
to lengthen the voyage. A month was usually consumed 
in the passage from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, while the 
return voyage was not effected in less than four months, 
10 



114 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

nor without a degree of toil and exposure to which noth- 
ing but the hardiest frames, and the most indomitable 
spirits, would have been equal. The heavily laden boats 
were propelled against the strong current by poles, or, 
where the stream was too deep to admit the use of those, 
drawn by ropes. The former process required the exer- 
tion of great strength and activity, but the latter was even 
more difficult and discouraging — as the laborer, obliged 
by the heat of the climate to throw aside his clothing, 
and exposed to the burning rays of the sun, was forced to 
travel on the heated sand, to wade through mire, to climb 
precipitous banks, to push his way through brush, and 
often to tread along the undermined shore, which giving 
way under his feet precipitated him into the eddying torrent 
of the Mississippi. After a day spent in toils which 
strained every muscle to its utmost power of exertion, he 
threw himself down to sleep, perhaps in the open air, ex- 
posed to the cold damps and noxious exhalations of the 
lower Mississippi, and the ferocious attacks of millions of 
musquitoes, and reposed as unconscious of danger, or in- 
convenience, as the native alligator which bellowed in the 
surrounding swamps. 

The flatboat was introduced a little later than the 
others. It is a rough strong boat, with a perfectly flat 
bottom, and perpendicular sides ; and covered throughout 
its whole length. Being constructed to float only with the 
current, it never returns after descending the river. These 
boats were formerly much used by emigrating families, to 
transport themselves down the Ohio, and are still built in 
great numbers on the various tributary streams, and floated 
out in high water, with produce for New Orleans. 

The French, who navigated the northern lakes, the Mis- 
sissippi, and its tributaries, adopted, in their trade, the use 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 115 

of the Indian birch canoe. McKenny, in his " Tour to 
the Lakes," thus describes one of those boats. 

" Its length is thirty feet, its breadth across the widest 
part, about four feet. It is about two and a half feet deep 
in the centre, but only about two feet near the bow and 
stern. Its bottom is rounded, and has no keel. 

"The materials of which this canoe are built are birch 
bark and red cedar, the whole fastened together with 
wattap, and gum, without a nail, or bit of iron of any sort 
to confine the parts. The entire outside is bark — the bark 
of the birch tree — and where the edges join at the bottom, 
or along the sides, they are sewn with this wattap, and 
then along the line of the seam it is gummed. Next to 
the bark are pieces of cedar, shaven thin, not thicker than 
the blade of a knife — these run horizontally, and are 
pressed against the bark by means of these ribs of cedar, 
which fit the shape of the canoe, bottom and sides, and 
coming up to the edges, are pointed, and let into a rim of 
cedar about an inch and half wide, and an inch thick, that 
that forms the gunwale of the canoe, and to these, by 
means of the wattap, the bark and ribs are all sewed; the 
wattap being wrapped over the gunwale, and passed 
through the bark and ribs. Across the canoe are bars, some 
five or six, to keep it in shape. These are fastened by bring- 
ing their ends against the gunwale, or edge, and fastening 
them to it with wattap. The seats of the voyageurs are along- 
side of, but below the bars, and are of plank, some four 
inches wide, which are swung, by means of two pieces of 
rope, passed through each end, from the gunwale." 

These boats were so light, and so easily damaged, that 
precautions were necessary to be taken in loading them 
yet the one described above carried not less than two 
thousand pounds. With these frail vessels the French 



116 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

navigated the Western rivers, and crossed the largest lakes, 
carrying on a most extensive traffic. The great peculi- 
arlity of this navigation is, that these light canoes are car- 
ried with facility from one river to another, or around the 
rapids and cascades, over which they cannot float. Their 
lading is accordingly made up into packages, each of 
which may be carried by one man, and these are trans- 
ported over the portages, on the backs of the cngagees^ 
by means of straps passed over the forehead. These 
boats are still used in the fur trade. 

As a curious illustration of the rapid improvement of 
our Western vessels, and the growth of our trade, I copy 
the following advertisement from a newspaper called 
" The Centinel of the Northwestern Territory," under 
date of Saturday, January 1 1, 1794, by which it will be 
seen that at that time four keel boats, carrying probably 
not more than twenty tons each, were supposed to be 
sufficient for the trade between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, 
and that these were prepared to defend themselves against 
enemits. 

"OHIO PACKET BOAT." 

*' Two Boats for the present will start from Cincinnati 
for Pittsburgh^ and return to Cincinnati in the following 
manner, viz : 

" First boat will leave Cincinnati this morning at eight 
o'clock, and return to Cincinnati, so as to be ready to sail 
again in four weeks from this date. 

" Second boat will leave Cincinnati on Saturday, the 
30th inst., and return to Cincinnati in four weeks as 
above. 

" And so regularly, each boat performing the voyage 
to and from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh once in every four 
weeks. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 117 

'^ Two boats, in addition to the above, will shortly be 
completed and regulated in such a manner that one boat 
of the four will set out weekly from Cincinnati to Pitts- 
burgh, and return in like manner. 

" The proprietor of these boats, having maturely con- 
sidered the many inconveniences and dangers incident to 
the common method hitherto adopted of navigating the 
Ohio, and being influenced by a love of philanthropy and 
a desire of being serviceable to the public, has taken 
great pains to render the accommodations on board the 
boats as agreeable and convenient as they could possibly 
be made. 

" No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as 
every person on board will be under cover made proof 
against rifle or musket balls, and convenient port holes 
for firing out of Each of the boats are armed with six 
pieces carrying a pound ball ; also a number of good mus- 
kets, and amply supplied with plenty of ammunition; 
strongly manned with choice hands, and the masters of 
approved knowledge. 

" A separate cabin from that designed for the men is 
partitioned off in each boat, for accommodating ladies on 
their passage. Conveniences are constructed on board 
each boat, so as to render landing unnecessary, as it might, 
at times, be attended with danger. 

" Rules and regulations for maintaining order on board, 
and for the good management of the boats, and tables ac- 
curately calculated for the rates of freightage, for passen- 
gers and carriage of letters to and from Cincinnati to 
Pittsburgh; also a table of the exact time of the arrival 
and departure to and from the different places on the Ohio, 
between CiJicinnati and Pittsburgh^ may be seen on 
board each boat, and at the printing office in Cincinnati. 



118 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

Passengers will be supplied with provisions and liquors 
of all kinds of the first quality, at the most reasonable 
rates possible. Persons desirous of working their pas- 
sage will be admitted on finding themselves; subject, 
however, to the same order and directions from the mas- 
ter of the boats as the rest of the working hands of the 
boat's crew. 

"An Office of Insurance will be kept at Cincinnati^ 
Limestone^ and Pittsburgh, where persons, desirous of 
having their property insured, may apply. The rates of 
insurance will be moderate." 

Such were the vessels in which the whole trade of the 
western rivers was carried on, previous to the year 1811. 
Nor was the transportation by land farther advanced in 
improvement. The few roads that crossed the mountains 
were so wretchedly bad that wagons toiled over them 
with great difficulty, and a large portion of the merchan- 
dise was carried on the backs of horses. Even that was 
considered a triumphant result of enterprise, and a rapid 
advance in improvement ; for a few years only had then 
advanced, since Mr. Brown, a delegate from Kentucky, 
in Congress, had been smiled at as a visionary, by the 
members of that august body, for asking the establish- 
ment of a mail to Pittsburgh, to be carried on horseback 
once in two weeks. He was told that such a mail was 
not needed, that it probably would never be required, and 
that the obstacles of the road were insuperable. That 
venerable patriot has lived to see the establishment of two 
daily mails on the same route; while the canals, the rail- 
ways, and the turnpikes that lead to the west, have ren- 
dered it accessible, with ease and safety, to every species 
of vehicle. 

We proceed now to give some account of the steamboat 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 119 

navigation of these rivers, and shall first speak of some 
early attempts towards the accomplishment of this object. 

Mr. James Rumsey, of Berkely county, Virginia, in- 
vented a plan for propelling boats by steam as early as 
1782, and in 1784 obtained from the legislature of Vir- 
ginia the exclusive right of navigating her waters with 
such boats. In 1788, he published his project, in general 
terms, together with numerous certificates from the most 
respectable characters in Virginia, among whom was 
General Washington, all of which assert, that a steam- 
boat was actually constructed which moved, with half her 
burthen on board, at the rate of three or four miles an 
hour, against the current of the Potomac, although the 
machinery was in a very imperfect state. In 1819, his 
brother. Dr. Rumsey, of Kentucky, built a boat after this 
model; and at that time it was said that the Rumsey plan 
united simplicity, strength, economy, and lightness, in a 
degree far superior to any other. The more complex 
machinery of Bolton and Watt, Fulton, and Evans, have 
however been more successful. 

In 1785, John Fitch, a watchmaker in Philadelphia, 
conceived the design of propelling a boat by steam. He 
was both poor and illiterate, and many difficulties occur- 
red, to frustrate every attempt which he made, to try the 
practicability of his invention. He applied to Congress 
for assistance, but was refused; and then offered his inven- 
tion to the Spanish government, to be used in the naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi, but without any better success. 
At length a company was formed, and funds subscribed 
for the building of a steamboat, and in the year 1788, his 
vessel was launched on the Delaware. Many crowded 
to see and ridicule the novel, and, as they supposed, the 
chimerical experiment. 



120 WESTERN STEAMBOATS, 

It seemed that the idea of wheels had not occurred to 
Mr. Fitch; but instead of them, oars were used, which 
worked in frames. He was confident of success; and 
when the boat was ready for the trial, she started off in 
good style for Burlington. Those who had sneered be- 
gan to stare, and they who had smiled in derision looked 
grave. Away went the boat, and the happy inventor tri- 
umphed over the scepticism of an unbelieving public. 
The boat performed her trip to Burlington, a distance of 
twenty miles; but unfortunately burst her boiler in round- 
ing to the wharf at that place, and the next tide floated 
her back to the city. Fitch persevered, and with great 
difficulty procured another boiler. After some time, the 
boat performed another trip to Burlington and Trenton, 
and returned in the same day. She is said to have moved 
at the rate of eight miles an hour; but something was 
continually breaking, and the unhappy projector only con- 
quered one difficulty to encounter another. Perhaps this 
was not owing to any defect in his plans, but to the low 
state of the arts at that time, and the difficulty of getting 
such complex machinery made with proper exactness. 
Fitch became embarrassed with debt, and was obliged to 
abandon the invention, after having satisfied himself of its 
practicability. 

This ingenious man, who was probably the first inven- 
tor of the steamboat, wrote three volumes, which he de- 
posited in manuscript, sealed up, in the Philadelphia li- 
brary, to be opened thirty years after his death. When, 
or why, he came to the west we have not learned ; but it 
is recorded of him, that he died and was buried near the 
Ohio. His three volumes were opened about five years 
ago, and were found to contain his speculations on me- 
chanics. He details his embarrassments and disappoint- 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 121 

ments, with a feeling which shows how ardently he de- 
sired success, and which wins for him the sympathy of 
those who have heart enough to mourn over the blighted 
prospects of genius. He confidently predicts the future 
success of the plan which, in his hands, failed only for 
the want of pecuniary means. He prophesies that, in less 
than a century, we shall see our western rivers swarming 
with steamboats; and expresses a wish to be buried oa 
the shores of the Ohio, where the song of the boatman 
may enliven the stillness of his resting place, and the 
music of the steam engine soothe his spirit. What an 
idea ! Yet how natural to the mind of an ardent projec- 
tor, whose whole life had been devoted to one darling: 
object, which it was not his destiny to accomplish! And 
how touching is the sentiment found in one of his jour- 
nals: — "The day will come when some more powerful 
man will get fame and riches from my invention; but 
nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do any 
thing worthy of attention." In less than thirty years after 
his death, his predictions were verified. He must have 
died about the year 1799. 

"The first steamboat built on the western waters," 
says a writer in the Western Monthly Magazine, " was 
the Orleans, built at Pittsburgh in 1811; there is no ac- 
count of more than seven or eight, built previously to 1817; 
from that period they have been rapidly increasing in 
number, character, model, and style of workmanship, 
until 1825, when two or three boats built about that pe- 
riod were declared by common consent to be the finest in 
the world. Since that time, we are informed, some of 
the New York and Chesapeake boats rival and proba- 
bly surpass us, in richness and beauty of internal deco- 
ration. As late as 1816, the practicability of navigating 
11 



122 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

the Ohio with steamboats was esteemed doubtful; none 
but the most sanguine augured favorably. The writer 
of this well remembers that in 1816, observing, in com- 
pany with a number of gentlemen, the long struggles of a 
stern wheel boat to ascend Horse-tail ripple, (five miles 
below Pitssburgh) it was the unanimous opinion, that 
^such a contrivance' might conquer the difficulties of the 
Mississippi, as high as Natchez, but that we of the Ohio 
must wait for some 'more happy century of inventions.' " 
We can add another anecdote lo that of our friend 
which we have quoted. About the time that Fulton was 
building his first boat at Pittsburgh, he traveled across 
the mountains in a stage, in company with several young 
gentlemen from Kentucky. His mind was teeming with 
those projects, the successful accomplishment of which 
has since rendered his name so illustrious — and his con- 
versation turned chiefly upon steam, steamboats, and fa- 
cilities for transportation. Upon these subjects he spoke 
frankly, and his incredulous companions, much as they 
respected the genius of the projector, were greatly amused 
at what they considered the extravagance of his expecta- 
tions. As the journey lasted several days, and the party 
grew familiar with each other, they ventured to jest with 
Mr. Fulton, by asking if he could do this, and that, by 
steam ; and a hearty laugh succeeded whenever the single- 
minded and direct inventor asserted the power of his favo- 
rite element. At length, in the course of some conversation 
on the almost impassable nature of the mountains, over 
which they were dragged with great toil, upon roads 
scarcely practicable for wheels, Mr. Fulton remarked, 
" tiie day will come, gentlemen — I may not live to see it, 
but some of you, who are younger, probably will — when 
carriages will be drawn over these mountains by steam 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 123 

engines, at a rate more rapid than that of a stage upon the 
smoothest turnpike." The apparent absurdity of this pre- 
diction, together with the gravity with which it was ut- 
tered, excited the most obstreporous mirth in this laughter 
loving company, who roared, shouted, and clapped their 
hands, in the excess of their merry excitement. This an- 
ecdote was repeated to us by one of that party ; who, two 
years ago, on finding himseh" rapidly receding from Bal- 
timore in a railroad car, recollected the prediction of Ful- 
ton, made twenty years before. 

The improvement in steamboats has been so rapid, 
and the incidents attending them so interesting, that we 
shall, at the hazard of rendering the subject tedious, give 
a particular history of a few of the earliest that were 
built. 

1. The Orleans, four hundred tons, the first boat built at 
Pittsburgh, was owned and constructed by Mr. Fulton. 
Sailed from Pittsburgh in December, 1812, and arrived at 
New Orleans about the 24th of the same month. She con- 
tinued to run between New Orleans and Natchez, making 
her voyages to average seventeen days, and was wrecked 
near Baton Rouge, in 1813 or 14, by striking a snag, on 
an upward bound passage. 

2. The Comet, twenty-five tons, owned by Samuel 
Smith; built at Pittsburgh by D. French; stern wheel, 
and vibrating cylinder, on French's patent, granted in 
1809. Made a voyage to Louisville in the summer of 
1813, descended to New Orleans in the spring of 1814, 
made two voyages thence to Natchez, and was sold, — and 
the engine put up in a cotton gin. 

3. The Vesuvius, three hundred and forty tons, built at 
Pittsburgh, by Mr. Fulton, and owned by a company at 
New York and New Orleans. Sailed for New Orleans 



124 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

in the spring of 1814, commanded by Captain Frank 
Ogden. She sailed from New Orleans for Louisville, 
about the 1st of June following; grounded on a sandbar, 
seven hundred miles up the Mississippi, where she lay 
until the 3d of December following, when the river rose, 
and floated her off She returned to New Orleans, where 
she run aground a second time on the Batture, where she 
remained until March 1st, when a rise of water set her 
afloat. She was then employed some months, between 
New Orleans and Natchez, under the command of Cap- 
tain Clemment, who was succeeded by Captain John De 
Hart ; shortly after, she took fire near the city of New 
Orleans and burned to the water's edge, having a valuable 
cargo on board. Her hull was afterwards raised and 
built upon, at New Orleans. She was since in the Louis- 
ville trade, was sold to a company at Natchez, and con- 
demned in 1819. 

4. The Enterprise^ forty-five tons, built at Brownsville, 
Pa., on the Monongahela, by Daniel French, under his 
patent, and owned by a company at that place. She made 
two voyages to Louisville in the summer of 1814, under 
the command of Captain J. Gregg. On the 1st of 
December, she took in a cargo of ordnance stores at 
Pittsburgh, and sailed for New Orleans, commanded by 
Captain Henry M. Shreve, and arrived at New Orleans 
on the 14th of the same month. She was then despatched 
up the river in search of two keel boats, laden with small 
arms, for General Jackson's army, which had been 
delayed on the way ; and returned with the cargoes of 
these after an absence of six days and a half, in which 
time she ran six hundred and twenty-four miles. For 
some time after, she was actively engaged in transporting 
troops. She made one voyage to the Gulf of Mexico as 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 125 

a cartel, one voyage to the rapids of Red river vt^ith troops, 
and nine voyages to Natchez. She set out for Pittsburgh 
on the 6th of May, 1817, and arrived at Shippingsport, 
(Louisville) on the 30th, twenty-five days out, being the 
first steamboat that ever arrived at that port from New 
Orleans, The citizens of Louisville gave a public dinner 
to Captain Shreve for having accomplished, in twenty-five 
days, a trip which previous to that time had never been 
accomplished, by the barges and keel boats, in less than 
three months. The Enterprise proceeded to Pittsburgh, 
the command was then given to Captain D. VVorley, who 
lost her in Rock Harbor, Shippingsport. 

5. The jEitna^ three hundred and forty tons, built at 
Pittsburgh, and owned by the same company as the Ve- 
suvius. Sailed from Pittsburgh for New Orleans in 
March, 1815, under the command of Captain A. Gale; 
made the voyage, and then went into the Natchez trade — 
was commanded by Captain R. De Hart, who made six 
voyages in her, and then again by Captain Gale. 

6. The Despatch^ twenty-five tons, built at Brownsville, 
in 1817, on French's patent, and owned by the same com- 
pany as the Enterprise. She made several voyages from 
Pittsburgh to Louisville, and one from New Orleans to 
Shippingsport, where she became a wreck in 1820, and 
her engine was taken out. 

7. The Buffalo^ three hundred tons, was built at Pitts- 
burgh, by Mr. Latrobe. 

8. The James Monroe^ one hundred and twenty tons, 
was built at Pittsburgh, by Mr. Latrobe. 

9. The Washington^ four hundred tons, built at Wheel- 
ing; contracted and part owned by Captain H. M. Shreve; 
her engine was made at Brownsville under the immediate 
direction of Captain Shreve. Her boilers were on the 



126 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

upper deck, and she was the first boat on that plan, since 
so generally in use. The Washington crossed the falls, 
September, 1816, under Captain Shreve, went to New 
Orleans, and returned to Louisville in the winter. In 
March, 1817, she went from Louisville to New Orleans 
and returned in forty-five days. This was the trip that 
first convinced the despairing public that steamboat navi- 
gation would succeed on the Western waters. 

10. The Franklin^ one hundred and twenty-five tons, 
built at Pittsburgh, by Messrs. Shiras and Cromwell; 
engine made by George Evans. She sailed from Pitts- 
burgh in December, 1816, was sold at New Orleans, 
went into the Louisville and St. Louis trade, and was 
sunk near St. Genevieve, in 1819. 

11. The Oliver Evan.% seventy-five tons, was built at 
Pittsburgh, by George Evans; engine his patent. Left 
Pittsburgh, December, 1816, for New Orleans. Burst 
one of her boilers in April, 1817, at Point Coupee, by 
which eleven men, chiefly passengers, were killed. Never 
did much business afterwards. 

12. The Harriet, forty tons, built at Pittsburgh, owned 
and constructed by Mr. Armstrong, of Williamsport, Pa. 
She sailed from Pittsburgh, October, 1816, for New Or- 
leans, crossed the falls in March, 1817, made one voyage 
to New Orleans, and then run between that place and the 
Muscle shoals. 

We shall not proceed any further with this list, as it 
would occupy more room than could be usefully devoted 
to such a purpose. Our object in giving the particulars 
of the history of a few of the first boats, in their regular 
order, is to show the progress that was made in the first 
years of the introduction of steamboats, and the difficul- 
ties which frowned upon the enterprise. The first advance 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 127 

was slow, and the prospects very discouraging^. The 
fourth boat that descended the river, was the first to re- 
ascend as far as Louisville, and even then it was consid- 
ered doubtful whether steamboats could be rendered useful 
as a mode of navigation for the ascending trade. It was 
not until 1816, when the boat, which was about the ninth 
in the order of building, having been conducted from 
Louisville to New Orleans and back in forty-five days, 
by Captain Henry M. Shreve, the question of practica- 
bility was considered as settled. 

Many of the obstacles vs^hich impeded the rapid advance 
of steamboat navigation were such as were incident to an 
infant and imperfect state of the art of constructing both 
boats and engines; while others were inseparable from 
the condition of the country. In accounting for the length 
of the earliest voyages, something must be allowed to 
both these classes of causes, and among the latter may be 
mentioned the important facts, that the shores of the Ohio 
and Mississippi were then comparatively unsettled, fuel 
was not an article of traffic, but was procured from the 
growing forest by the crews of the boats, and used in its 
green state; while accidental injuries were repaired with 
equal inconvenience and delay. 

The General Pike, built at Cincinnati, in 1818, and 
intended to ply as a packet between Maysville, Cincinnati, 
and Louisville, is said to have been the first steamboat 
constructed on the Western waters for the exclusive con- 
venience of passengers. Her accommodations were am- 
ple, her apartments spacious and superbly furnished, and 
her machinery of superior mechanism. She measured 
one hundred feet keel, twenty-five feet beam, and drew 
only three feet three inches water. The length of her 
cabin was forty feet, the breadth twenty-five feet, in addi- 



128 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

tion to which were fourteen state rooms. The boats pre- 
viously built had been intended solely for the transportation 
of merchandise; these objects have subsequently been 
successfully united. 

The Calhoun, eighty tons, built at Frankfort, in 1818, 
the -Expedition, one hundred and twenty tons, and the 
Independence, fifty tons — the two last built at Pittsburgh — 
were constructed for the exploration of the Missouri river, 
in what was popularly termed the Yellow Stone Expedi- 
tion, projected by Mr. Calhoun, while Secretary of War. 
The Independence was the first steamboat that ascended 
the powerful current of the Missouri. 

The Post Bo7/, two hundred tons, built at New Albany, 
by Captain Shreve and others, in 1819, was intended for 
the conveyance of the mail between Louisville and New 
Orleans, under an an act of Congress, passed in March, 
1819. This was the first attempt on the Western waters 
to carry the mail in steamboats. 

The Western Engineer was built near Pittsburgh, in 
1818, Under the the direction of Major S. H. Long, of 
the United States topographical engineers, for the expedi- 
dion of discovery to the sources of the Missouri, and the 
Rocky Mountains, which was afterwards .so honorably 
accomplished by himself and his companions. This boat 
ascended as high as the Council Bluffs, about six hundred 
and fifty miles above St. Louis, and was the first steam- 
boat that reached that point. 

For further particulars with regard to individual 
boats, we refer to copious alphabetical tables, which will 
accompany these notes. We proceed to present some 
calculations which wc have collected from different but 
authentic sources. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 129 

The following remarks are from the pen of Morgan 
Neville, Esq., and were written in 1829 : 

" The average cost of a steamboat is estimated at $100 
per ton ; the repairs made during the existence of a boat 
amount to one half the first cost. The average duration 
of a boat has hitherto been about four years; of those 
built of locust, lately, the period will probably be two 
years longer. The amount of expenditure in this branch 
of business on the western waters, then, for the last ten 
years, will in some measure be shown by the following 
calculation: 

56,000 tons, costing $100 per ton, amount to - $5,600,000 
Repairs on the same, . - . . 2,800,000 



Expending in building and repairing in ten years, $8,400,000 

" The annual expenditure of steamboats is very difficult 
to be arrived at: the importance of this expenditure, how- 
ever, to the towns on our rivers, and to the whole extent 
of country running along their shores, may be estimated 
from the following calculation of the item of fuel alone, 
for one year — take the present year, 1829. We have now 
in operation above two hundred boats, the tonnage of 
which may be stated at thirty-five thousand tons. 

" It is calculated that the business of each year lasts 
eight months; deduct one fourth for the time lost in port, 
and we have six months, or one hundred and eighty days, 
of running time. Each boat is presumed to consume one 
cord of wood, for every twelve tons, every twenty-four 
hours. 

The 35,000 tons then consume, ;?er day, - 2,917 cords. 

Or, during the six months, - _ _ 525,060 cords. 

"The price of wood varies from $1 50, to $5 per 

cord; a fair average would place it at $2 25 per cord. 



130 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

This makes the expenditure for fuel alone, on the banks 
of our rivers, $1,181,385, for this year. The other ex- 
penditures, while running, are calculated, by the most 
experienced and intelligent owners, to be equal to $1,- 
300,000, w^hich gives the total expenditure for 1829, at 
$2,481,385. 

" This calculation and estimate, then, which are both 
made lower than the facts justify, present these results: 

The amount of first cost of steamboats, since 1817, $5,600,000 
Repairs on the same, - - - _ 2,800,000 



Total amount of expenditure, produced by the intro- 
duction of steamboats, for building and repairs, $8,400,000 

" We cannot better illustrate the magnitude of the 
change in every thing connected with western commerce 
and navigation, than by contrasting the foregoing state- 
ment, with the situation of things at the time of the adop- 
tion of steam transportation, say in 1817. About twenty 
barges, averaging one hundred tons each, comprised the 
whole of the commercial facilities for transporting mer- 
chandise from New Orleans to the "Upper country;" each 
of these performed one trip down and up again to Louis- 
ville and Cincinnati within the year. The number of 
keelboats employed in the upper Ohio cannot be ascer- 
tained, but it is presumed that one hundred and fifty is a 
sufficiently large calculation to embrace the whole num- 
ber. These averaged thirty tons each, and employed one 
month to make the voyage from Louisville to Pittsburgh, 
while the more dignified barge of the Mississippi made 
her trip in the space of one hundred days, if no extraor- 
dinary accident happened, to check her progress. Not a 
dollar was expended for wood, in a distance of two thou- 
sand miles, and the dweller on the banks of the Ohio 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 131 

thought himself lucky if the reckless boatmen would give 
the smallest trifle for the eggs and chickens which formed 
almost the only saleable articles on a soil whose only fault 
is its too great fertility. Such was the case twelve years 
since. The Mississippi boats now make five or six trips 
within the year, and are enabled, if necessary, within that 
period, to afford to that trade one hundred and thirty-five 
thousand tons. Eight or nine days are sufficient, on the up- 
per Ohio, to perform the trip from Louisville to Pittsburgh 
and back. In short, if steam has not realised the hyperbole 
of the poet in ' annihilating time and space,' it has pro- 
duced results scarcely surpassed by the introduction of the 
art of printing." 

From another valuable article of the same gentleman, 
we copy the following very interesting remarks : 

"On the first day of January, 1834, an official list of 
steamboats, from an authentic source, gives the whole 
number of two hundred and thirty, then in existence, 
whose aggregate amount of tonnage is equal to about 
thirty-nine thousand tons. Allowing the cost of building 
at a rate much lower than the rule adopted three years 
since, the capital now invested in this stock will exceed 
$3,000,000. The expense of running may be put down 
nearly as contained in the following scale: 

60 boats over 200 tons, 180 days at $140 per day, $1,512,000 00 
70 boats from 120 tons to 200, 240 running days, 

$90 per day, - - - 1,512,000 00 

100 boats under 120 tons, 270 running days, $60 

per day, - - . . . 1,620,000 00 



Total yearly expenses, - - $4,644,000 00 

"This sum may be reduced to the different items pro- 
ducing it in the following proportions, viz: 



132 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

For wages, 36 per cent., equal to - - $1,671,840 00 

« wood, 30 per cent., equal to - - 1,393,200 00 

" provisions, 18 per cent., equal to - - 835,920 00 

" contingencies, 16 per cent., equal to - - 743,040 00 

*' This result is truly striking to those who were ac- 
customed to the state of things on our rivers within twenty- 
years. The difference in the amount of wages paid is in 
itself very considerable: but the item of fuel is one created 
exclusively by steamboats; and when it is considered that 
nearly $1,500,000 is expended every year, at a few points 
on the Mississippi valley, it presents a vast field for specu 
lation. The immense forests of beech and other timber 
unfit for agricultural purposes, were, before, not only use 
less but an obstacle to the rugged farmer, who had to re 
move them before he could sow and reap. The steamboat 
with something like magical influence, has converted them 
into objects of rapidly increasing value. He no longer 
looks with despondence on the denseness of trees, and only 
regrets that so many have already been given to the 
flames, or cast on the bosom of the stream before him. 

" At the present period, the steamboats may be consider- 
ed as plying as follows, viz: 
25 over 200 tons, between Louisville, New Orleans, and 

Cincinnati, measuring _ _ - 8484 tons. 

7 between Nashville and New Orleans, measuring 2585 " 
4 between Florence and New Orleans, - 1617 " 

4 in the St. Louis trade, - - - 1002 « 

7 in the cotton trade, - - - - 2016 « 

57 boats not in established trades, from 120 to 200 tons, 8641 " 
The balance under 120 tons in various trades, 14,655 " 



39,000 
"In the New Orleans and Louisville trade, the boats 
over two hundred tons make about one hundred and fifty 
trips in prosperous seasons; those of smaller size make 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 133 

from fifty to sixty trips. But to go into an estimate of 
the number of voyages made by the boats in the different 
trades is impossible, because no regular data are furnished, 
and the result depends upon a variety of contingencies." 

"Previous to 1817, about twenty barges afforded the 
only facilities for transporting merchandise from New- 
Orleans to Louisville and Cmcinnati. These, making but 
one trip in the year, gave the means of bringing up only 
two thousand tons. The present tonnage in this trade 
exclusively, having been stated to be eight thousand eight 
hundred and eighty-four tons, gives the amount employed, 
calculating one hundred and fifty trips in the season, to be 
fifty thousand nine hundred and four tons ; a cause capa- 
ble of producing a revolution in sixteen years hardly 
equaled in the annals of history. The effects upon wes- 
tern commerce have been immense. The moral changes 
alone which are felt throughout the west on prices is al- 
most incalculable: the imported article has fallen in a ratio 
equal to the increased price of western products. In look- 
ing back at the old means of transportation, we cannot 
conceive how the present demand and consumption could 
have been supplied by them. 

" To those who have been acquainted with the early 
mercantile history of our country, when it was no uncom- 
mon thing for a party of merchants to be detained in Pitts- 
burgh from six weeks to two months, by low water, or 
ice, the existing state of things is truly gratifying. The 
old price of carriage of goods, from the Atlantic seaboard 
to Pittsburgh, was long estimated at from $5 00 to $8 00 
per hundred pounds. We have instances in the last five 
years, of merchandise being delivered at the wharf of 
Cincinnati for $1 00 per hundred pounds, from Phila- 
delphia, by way of New Orleans. 



134 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

" It may not be useless or uninteresting to give an idea 
of the mortality among steamboats in a given time. It is 
not pretended that any decided inference can be drawn 
from this statement, or that the facts go to establish any 
fixed rule. But under the present situation of steamboat 
discipline and regulation a tolerably fair conclusion can 
be drawn from it. Taking the period then of two years, 
from the fall of 1831 till that of 1833, we have a list of 
boats gone out of service, of sixty-six; of these fifteen 
were abandoned, as unfit for service; seven were lost by 
ice; fifteen were burnt; twenty-four snagged, and five 
destroyed by being struck by other boats. Deducting the 
fifteen boats abandoned as unsea worthy, we ha.ve fifty-one 
lost by accidents peculiar to the trade. In number this 
proportion is over twelve per cent, per annum; in ton- 
nage the loss is upwards of ten per cent. Amount 
snagged, three thousand seven hundred and twenty-one 
tons; amount burned, two thousand three hundred and 
thirty tons. 

A curious fact was ascertained by a committee of gen- 
tlemen, who were appointed a few years ago, by a num- 
ber of steamboat owners, to investigate the whole subject. 
They satisfied themselves, that although the benefits con- 
ferred on our country, by steam navigation, were incal- 
culable, the stock invested in boats was, as a general rule, 
a losing investment. In a few cases, owing to fortuitous 
events, or to the exercise of more than usual prudence, 
money has been made; but the instances are so few as 
not to afl^ect the rule. One gentleman, who has been 
engaged for years in the ownership of steamboats, and has 
been peculiarly fortunate, in not meeting with any loss by 
accident, assured the writer, that his aggregate gain, during 
the whole series of years, was only about six per cent. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 135 

per year, on the capital invested. These facts go far to- 
wards accounting for the enormous proportion of accidents 
and losses which occur upon our rivers. A few instance?, 
in which large profits were realised, induced a great num- 
ber of individuals to embark in this business, and the ton- 
nage has always been greater than the trade demanded. 
The accidents, which are almost wholly the result of bad 
management, were set down as among the unavoidable 
chances of the navigation, and instead of adopting measures 
to prevent them, they were deliberately subtracted from 
the supposed profits, as matters of course. As the boat 
was not expected to last more than four or five years, at 
best, and would probably be burnt, blown up, or sunk 
within that period, it was considered good economy to 
reduce the expenditures, and to make money by any 
means, during the brief existence of the vessel. Boats 
were hastily and slightly built, furnished with cheap en- 
gines, and placed under the charge of wholly incompe- 
tent persons ; the most inexcusable devices were resorted 
to, to get freight and passengers, and the most criminal 
indifference to the safety of the boat and those on board, 
observable during the trip. 

The writer was once hurried from Louisville to Ship- 
pingsport, two miles below, without his breakfast, and in 
the rain, to get on board a boat which was advertised to 
start at eight o'clock on that morning. During the whole 
day, passengers continued to come on board, puffing and 
blowing — in the most eager haste to secure a passage — 
each having been assured by the captain or agent, that the 
boat would start in less than an hour. The next day pre- 
sented the same scene; the rain continued to fall; we 
were two miles from the city, lying against a miry bank 
which prevented any one from leaving the boat — the fires 



136 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

were burning, the steam hissing, and the boat only wait, 
ing for the captain, who would be on board in a few 
minutes. Bye and bye the captain came — but then we 
must wait a few minutes for the clerk, and when the clerk 
came, the captain found that he must go up to town. In the 
meanwhile passengers continued to accumulate, each de- 
coyed alike by the assurance that the boat was about to 
depart. Thus we were detained until the third day, 
when the cabin and deck being crowded with a collection 
nearly as miscellaneous as the crew of Noah's ark, the 
captain thought proper to proceed on his voyage. It was 
afterwards understood that when the captain began to col- 
lect passengers, a part of his engine was on shore, 
undergoing repairs which could not be completed in less 
than two days, yet during the whole of those two days 
were the fires kept up, and gentlemen and ladies inveigled 
on board, in the manner related. 

We mention this to show the kind of deceptions which 
have been practised. This, it is true, was an extreme 
case, but although the detention is not usually so great, 
nor the deceit so gross, it is not uncommon for steamboat 
captains and agents to deceive passengers by the most 
egregious misrepresentations. 

The fact is important, not merely as showing the incon- 
veniences to which travelers are exposed, but as explain- 
ing one of the causes of the numerous accidents on the 
western waters — which is, bad faith. The man who 
will do one dishonest act, will do another. The agent or 
officer, who will deliberately kidnap men, by the assu- 
rance that he will start to-day, when he knows that he 
will not start until to-morrow, and the owner who will 
permit such conduct, will not shrink at any act by which 
he may think his interest likely to be promoted — and 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 137 

having" insured the boat, will risk the lives of the passen- 
gers, by running at improper seasons, and other hazards, 
by which. time may be saved, and the expenses of the trip 
diminished. 

The danger of injury to boats from snags has now 
become greatly diminished in the Mississippi, and has 
almost entirely ceased in the Ohio, in consequence of the 
measures adopted for the removal of those obstacles. 

The burning of boats must be the result of carelessness; 
and the dreadful consequences arising from collision are 
produced by negligence and by design. There is scarcely 
a conceivable case in which boats may not avoid run- 
ning against each other in the night; and there are many 
instances in which the officers of steamboats have been 
induced, by a ferocious spirit of rivalry, or some other 
unworthy motive, to run against weaker boats in such a 
manner as to sink them instantly. 

It is proper however to state, that the accidents occur- 
ing on steamboats have been greatly magnified by pre- 
mature and inaccurate newspaper reports, and that they 
have been much fewer and less fatal than has generally 
been supposed. 

It is also true, that much of the evil alluded to is attrib- 
utable to the precipitancy and culpable negligence with 
regard to their own safety and comfort of the passengers. 
The accidents are almost wholly confined to insufficient 
or badly managed boats, and the traveler who would be 
cautious in embarking only in those of the more respect- 
able class would almost uniformly insure himself against 
danger. A choice of boats, embracing every variety, from 
the best to those which are wholly unseaworthy, is pre- 
sented at all our principal places of embarkation. Yet 
such is the feverish impatience of delay, evinced by most 
12 



138 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

travelers in our country, that the great majority hasten on 
board the first boat which offers, regardless of her char- 
acter, and only anxious to be moving forward, under any 
discomfort, and at every hazard. The bad boats receive 
undue patronage, the best do not meet the preference to 
which they are entitled, and are not compensated for the 
extra expenditure bestowed upon their outfit and manage- 
ment; and the inducements to accommodate the public 
well being weakened, neither the owners nor officers of 
steamboats feel the same solicitude for the reputation of 
their boats, nor the same degree of responsibility, which 
would occur if the public patronage was more judiciously 
bestowed. 

The following remarks occur in a letter to the Secretary 
of the Treasury, from Mr. William C. Redfield, agent of 
the steam navigation company at New York, and are 
considered as embracing the steam navigation of the whole 
union: 

" The contests for speed, or practice of racing, between 
rival steamboats, has been the cause, and perhaps justly, 
of considerable alarm in the community. It is remarka- 
ble, however, that as far as the information of the writer 
extends, there has no accident occurred to any boiler 
which can be charged to a contest of this sort. The close 
and uniform attention which is necessarily given to the 
action and state of the boilers and engines, in such con- 
tests, may have had a tendency to prevent disaster. But 
this hazard, as well as the general danger of generating 
an excess of steam, is greatly lessened by the known fact, 
that in most steamboats the furnaces and boilers are not 
competent to furnish a greater supply of steam than can 
be used with safety, with an ordinary degree of attention 
on the part of the engineers. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 139 

" The magnitude and extent of the danger to which 
passengers in steamboats are exposed, though sufficiently- 
appalling, is comparatively much less than in other modes 
of transit with which the public have been long familiar ; 
the accidents of which, if not so astounding, are almost 
of every day occurrence. It will be understood that I 
allude to the dangers of ordinary navigation, and land 
conveyance by animal power on wheel carriages. In the 
former case, the whole or greater part of both passengers 
and crew are frequently lost, and sometimes by the cul- 
pable ignorance or folly of the officers in charge, whilo 
no one thinks of urging a legislative remedy for this too 
common catastrophe. In the latter class of cases, should 
inquiry be made for the number of casualties occurring 
in various districts in a given number of years, and the 
resuhs fairly applied to our whole population and travel, 
the comparatively small number injured or destroyed in 
steamboats would be matter of great surprise to those not 
accustomed to make such estimates upon passing events. 
It is also worthy of notice, that if the average annual loss 
of life by the electric stroke were ascertained in the man- 
ner above proposed, the results would probably show a 
loss of life by this rare casualty far exceeding that which 
is occasioned by accidents in steamboats." 

We extract, from an interesting report of a committee 
of the House of Representatives, in Congress, made in 
1832, by Mr. WicklifFe, of Kentucky, the following tabu- 
lar statement of the steamboat accidents in the United 
States previous to that date. 



140 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



LIST OF STEAMBOAT EXPLOSIONS which have occur- 
red in the United States, with remarks thereon, by W. C. 
Redfield. 



&^ 



1817 



1824 

1828 

1830 




1824 
1825 



1826 



1827 
1830 



1831 



Constitution, 

General Robinson, 

Yankee, 

Heriot, 

Etna, 

Grampus, 

Barnet, 

Helen McGregor, 

Caledonia, 

Car of Commerce, 

Huntress, 

Fair Star, 

Porpoise, 

Enterprise 

Paragon, 

Alabama, 

Feliciana, 

Arkansas, 

Fidelity, 

Patent, 

Atalanta, 

Bellona, 



Place of Explosion. 



('h.p.) Mississippi, 
(h.p.) do. 
(h.p.) do. 
(h.p.)| do. 
(h.p.) New York bay, 
(h.p.) Mississippi, 
(h.p.) Long Island Sound, 
(h.p.) Mississippi, 
(h.p.) I do. 
(h.p.) Ohio river, 
(h.p.) Mississippi, 
(h.p.) Alabama, 
(h.p.) Mississippi, 
cop. boiler, (1. p.) Charleston, S. C. 
do. (1. p.) Hudson river, 

(1. p.) Mississippi, 
(l.p.)| do. 
(l.p.) Red river, 
(1. p.) New York harbor, 
(l.p.) do. 
(l.p.) do. 
(l.p.) do. 
(l.p.)|Savannah river, 
(l.p.);Raritan, 
(l.p.) Chesapeake, 
(l.p.) Delaware river, 
(l.p.) Norfolk, 
(l.p.) [Jersey city, 
(l.p.)jMississippi, 



cop. boiler, 

do. 

do. 

do. 
Maid of Orleans, do. 
Raritan, unknown, 

Eagle, do. 

Bristol, 

Powhatan, cop. boiler, 
Jersey, do. 

Tesch, 

Constitution, (l-pO 

Legislator, (1-P-) 

Hudson, (1-pO 

Franklin, (l.p.) 

Ramapo, in Jan. (l-PO 

do. in Mar. O-pO 

Oliver Ellsworth (l.p.) 

Carolina, (1-pO 

Ch. J. Marshall, cop. boiIer,(I. p.) 
United States, (l-pO 

General Jackson, (l-PO 



Hudson river. 
New York harbor, 
East river, 
Hudson river, 
New Orleans 

do. 
Long Island Sound, 
New York harbor, 
Hudson river. 
East river, 
Hudson river, 



13 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



Ul 



List of Steamboat Explosions — Continued. 



S^ 








^ 


"^ 




Names. 




Place of Explosion. 


^ 


o 


P.!3 








g. 


s 




Cotton Plant, 




Mobile, 


"~~ 


1816 


Washington, 


(h.p.) 


Ohio river, 


7 


9 


1826 


Macon, 




South Carolina, 


4 




1827 


Hornet, 


(l.p.) 


Alabama, 


2 


2 


1826 


Susquehannah, 




Susquehannah, 


2 




1827 


Union, 


(h.p.) 


Ohio river. 


4 


7 


1830 


Wm. Peacock, stovepipe, 




Buffalo, 


15 






Tally-ho, 


(h.p.) 


Cumberland river, 









Kenhawa, 


(l.p.) 


Ohio river, 


8 


4 




Atlas, 




Mississippi, 


1 






Andrew Jackson, 




Savannah river, 


2 




1831 


Tri-color, 


(l.p.) 


Ohio river. 


8 


8 



RECAPITULATION. 



Killed. Wounded. 



13 High pressure accidents, - - - - 115 

27 Low pressure do. - - - - 95 

12 Character of engines unknown, supposed) ^g 

to be chiefly high pressure, 



52 



Total, 256 



54 
29 

21 



104 



142 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

" In some of the principal accidents comprised in the 
foregoing list, the number of killed includes all who did 
hot recover from their wounds. In other cases, the num- 
bers killed are as given in the newspapers of the day, and 
some of the wounded should perhaps be added. In some 
few instances no list has been obtained, and possibly in 
some no loss of life has occurred. The accounts of some 
of the minor accidents may have been lost sight of or 
overlooked in my files. In making an approximate esti- 
mate of the whole number of lives which have been lost in 
the United States by these accidents, I should fix it three 



" Akhough this is a melancholy detail of casualties, yet 
it seems less formidable when placed in comparison with 
the ordinary causes of mortality, and especially when con- 
trasted with the insatiate demands of intemperance and 
ambition. It is believed that it will appear small when 
compared with the whole amount of injury and loss which 
has been sustained by traveling in stages and other kinds 
of carriages. More lives have probably been lost from 
sloops and packets on the waters of this state*since the in- 
troduction of steamboats, than by all the accidents in the 
latter, though the number of passengers exposed has been 
much smaller. In one case that occurred within a few 
years, thirty-six persons were drowned on board a sloop 
in the Hudson river, and many instances, involving the 
loss of a smaller number of lives; and one case occurred 
not long since, on Long Island sound, which resulted in 
the loss of twelve or fourteen individuals. 

" It will be seen, by reference to the foregoing list, that, 
of twenty-five lives that have been lost on board of New 
York steamboats previous to the case of the Chief Justice 
Marshall, and excluding the case of the Etna, only one 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 143 

passenger is included in the number. Even in the more 
fatal cases which are here excluded, and in all accidents 
of this nature, the chief loss is sustained by the crew and 
ojfRcers attached to the boats, who, by the nature of their 
employments, are compelled to encounter by far the great- 
est portion of the hazard. 

In the year 1832 it was estimated that, besides the steam- 
boats, there were four thousand flat boats annually de- 
scending the Mississippi, whose aggregate measure would 
be one hundred and sixty thousand tons. As these do not 
return, the loss on them would amount to $420,000, and 
the expense of loading, navigating and unloading them 
$960,000 — making the whole annual expenditure upon 
this class of boats $1,380,000. 

In the same year the aggregate cost of steamboats, the 
expenses of running them, interest, wear and tear, wood, 
wages, and subsistence of crews and passengers, was esti- 
mated at $5,906,000. 

The total expenditure on steam and flatboats was, ac- 
cording to this calculation, $7,286,000. 

The value of the produce exported in these boats, to- 
gether with the labor expended in and about them, was 
estimated at $26,000,000. 

The different descriptions of boats navigated on the 
western rivers, in that year, were supposed to give employ- 
ment to sixteen thousand nine hundred men, namely: 

To mechanics and laborers employed in building 20 steam- 
boats, and repairing others, _ - _ $1,700 
Wood cutters, - - - - - 4,400 
Crews of steamboats, - - - - - 4,800 
Building flatboats, . - . - . 2,000 
Navigating flatboats to New Orleans, - - 4,000 

Total, ... - $16,900 



144 WESTERN STEAMBOATS, 

But adding to those who are directly engaged the much 
larger number who are indirectly employed in making 
engines, and in furnishing, supplying, loading and dis- 
charging boats, the whole number of persons deriving 
subsistence from this navigation, in 1832, was supposed to 
be ninety thousand. ' That number has since been greatly 
increased. During the last season there was built at Pitts- 
burgh and the neighboring towns about twenty-five steam- 
boats, at Cincinnati and its neighborhood about twenty-five. 

From 1822 to 1827 the loss of property on the Ohio 
and Mississippi, by snags, including steam and flatboats, 
and their cargoes, amounted to $1,362,500. Loss in the 
in the same items from the same cause, from 1827 to 1832, 
$381,000. 

We close this part of our subject with the following 
extracts from two very interesting articles published in the 
Wheeling Gazette, since our table of steamboats was 
compiled: 

"We are informed on good authority that the number 
of boats built the present year between Louisville and 
Pittsburgh, including those places, will not fall short of 
fifty. About thirty-five of these are for distant parts of the 
country — for the southern and westernmost States: the re- 
maining fifteen will be added to our river trade, increasing 
the number of boats thus employed to about sixty. Sup- 
posing the amount of freight conveyed in each boat to be 
forty tons down and twenty up, some opinion may be 
formed of the amount of merchandise transported yearly 
upon the Ohio. The river may be estimated to be navi- 
gable from six to eight months in the year, and each boat 
to perform twelve trips from Wheeling to Louisville and 
back. Each boat, then, transports twelve times forty tons 
down, and half this quantity up, equal to seven hundred 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 145 

and twenty tons. This multipled 'by sixty, the number of 
boats, gives forty-three thousand two hundred tons as the 
gross amount of merchandise transported yearly in steam- 
boats upon the Ohio, 

To fix the value of this merchandise is not so easy. 
Yet something like accuracy may be obtained. It is said 
that a wagon load of dry goods, weighing two tons, will 
cost about $4,000, and that western merchants who pur- 
chase $8,000 worth receive them generally in two wagon, 
loads. This would make a ton of dry goods worth $2,000. 
As grosser and heavier articles, however, are sent down 
the river in large quantities, the value per ton may be 
rated at $500. Forty times five hundred gives $20,000 
as the value of each cargo; this, multiplied by twelve, 
gives $240,000 as the amount conveyed by each boat dur- 
ing the season; and this multiplied by sixty, the number 
of boats, gives the sum of $14,800,000 as the value of the 
down freight in a single year. This is independently of 
the merchandise conveyed in keel and fiatboats, and the 
immense amount of lumber which almost covers the face 
of the river in the spring season. The value of the mer- 
chandise transported up the river may be estimated at 
$1,500,000. Making the total value of merchandise, 
transported in steamboats yearly on the Ohio, upwards of 
$16,000,000. 

The following table shows the distances from each 
other of the places named, and from Wheeling, with the 
prices of passage. It is proper to observe that these are 
established rates, but that some boats charge less, the 
prices depending, in some degree, upon the number of 
boats in port, and the abundance or scarcity of passengers. 



13 



146 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



UP THE KIVER. 


M 


M 


$ c 


Wheeling to Wellsburgh, Ohio, 


16 




75 


Steubenville, Ohio, 


7 


23 


1 00 


Wellsville, do - 


20 


43 


1 50 


Beaver, Pennsylvania, 


26 


69 


2 50 


Pittsburgh, do - - - 


27 


96 


3 00 


DOWN THK RIVER. 








Marietta, Ohio, - - - 


82 




2 50 


Parkersburgh, Va., - - - 


10 


92 


2 50 


Point Pleasant, do - - 


78 


170 


5 00 


Gallipolis, Ohio, - - 


3 


173 


5 00 


Guyandotte, Va., 


37 


210 


6 00 


Portsmouth, Ohio, - - - 


50 


260 


7 00 


Maysville, Kentucky, 


42 


307 


8 00 


Ripley, Ohio, - . - 


12 


319 


9 00 


Cincinnati, - - - 


46 


355 


10 00 


Port William, mouth of Kentucky, 


79 


434 


11 00 


Madison, Indiana, 


13 


447 


11 00 


Westport, Kentucky, 


20 


467 


12 00 


Louisville, - - 


20 


487 


12 00 


Rome, Indiana, - - - 


100 


587 


15 00 


Troy, 


35 


622 


15 00 


Yellow Banks, Kentucky, 


25 


647 


15 00 


Evansville, Indiana, 


40 


687 


18 00 


Henderson, Kentucky, 


12 


699 


18 00 


Shawneetown, Illinois, 


53 


752 


18 00 


Smithland, mouth of Cumberland, 


63 


815 


18 00 


Mouth of Ohio, - - - 


66 


881 


20 00 


New Madrid, Mo. - - - 


75 


956 


22 00 


Memphis, Tenn., 


150 


1106 


25 00 


Helena, Arkansas Territory, - 


85 


1191 


26 00 


Vicksburgh, Miss., 


307 


1498 


30 00 


Natchez, - - - - 


110 


1608 


30 00 


New Orleans, La., 


300 


1908 


35 00 


The above prices of passage includ 


e boarding. 


The 


prices of deck passage are about one-fourth of these, the 


passengers finding themselves. Thus 


to Louisville, the 


deck passage is $3, cabin $12; to New Orleans 


deck, 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 147 

$8, cabin $35. The deck is covered and contains berths, 
but it is a very undesirable way of traveling. The pas- 
sage to Louisville is generally performed in two and a half 
days, and to New Orleans from eight to ten; returning, 
nearly double this time. The ordinary speed of the boats 
is twelve miles an hour down the river, and six up. 

Where large parties apply together for passage, or 
where emigrating families apply, a considerable reduction 
is often made. We will mention the case of a family 
from Maryland, who took passage on the 27th inst., as 
one in point, and as furnishing emigrants with some infor- 
mation they may like to hear. The family consisted of 
fifteen persons, (nine adults and six children,) five of whom 
were slaves. There were also three horses, a wagon, and 
a wagon load of baggage. They wished a passage to 
St. Louis, and, on making application to the master of the 
only boat in port on their arrival here, were told that the 
fare would be $20 for each adult in the cabin, $6 for deck 
passage, $15 for each horse, (the owner finding them,) 
and the usual rates of freight for the baggage; or, to 
lump the whole, $250. Rather than pay this, the head 
of the family preferred waiting awhile ; he did so, and in 
three days effected a bargain for $160 for the family, em- 
bracing six cabin passengers, (with servant,) and eight 
deck passengers, together with three horses, wagon and 
baggage; the deck passengers and horses to be found by 
the emigrant. 

It may not be irreleverant to add that the family spoken 
of had come from a county in Maryland about three hun- 
dred miles from Wheeling. They traveled about twenty 
miles a day with a four horse wagon. Their expenses 
thus far was $75 ; price of oats on the road, forty-five to 
fifty cents. Had they continued on by land to St. Louis, 



148 WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 

six hundred miles from here, it would have cost them 
$100 more. They would have got oats in Ohio for 
twenty and twenty-five cents, and in Indiana and Illinois 
for sixteen and eighteen cents. It would have taken them 
thirty days, however; while by water they will reach 
there in seven. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



149 



ALPHABETICAL LIST of Steamboats built and running on 
the western waters, with the date of building, tonnage, and expi- 
ration of service. The high and low pressure engines are distin- 
guished by the letters h or 1 in the first column. 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 




o 


o • 

Q 


How destroyed. 


^tna 


Pittsburgh 


1814 


361 


1822 


Worn out. 


Alabama 


F.Stephens 


1818 


219 


1824 


Struck S. B. Natchez. 


Alexandria 


N. Orleans 


1819 


60 


1823 


Struck a drift log. 


Arkansas 


do. 


1820 


51 




Snagged. 


Allegheny h 


Pittsburgh 


1818 


50 


1826 


Worn out. 


Ariel h 


Cincinnati 


1825 


80 




Worn out. 


America h 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


240 


1827 


Sunk. 


American h 


do.- 


1824 


50 




Worn out. 


AndrewJackson 


Cincinnati 


1823 


299 




Worn out. 


Aurora h 


Steuben'lle 


1825 


150 




Sunk. 


Atalanta h 


Cincinnati 


1826 


148 


1834 


Worn out. 


Amazon I 


do. 


1826 


300 


1831 


Sunk. 


Attackapas h 


Louisville 




124 


1831 


Burnt at New Orleans. 


Atlas h 


N. Albany 


1827 


160 




- 


Atlantic h 


Marietta 


1829 


400 






Amulet I 


Cincinnati 


1829 


150 






Allegheny h 


Pittsburgh 


1830 


40 






Abeona h 


do. 


1830 


150 






Argus h 


do. 


1831 


100 


1834 


Worn out. 


Arab I 


Cincinnati 


1831 


150 






Assinaboine h 


do. 


1832 


150 






Albion h 


Browns'ille 


1833 


40 






Antelope h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


90 


1831 


Sunk by ice. 


Arkansaw h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


115 






Argo h 


Jefferson' le 


1833 


80 






AndrewJackson 


Steuben'lle 


1833 


120 






Alert h 


Pittsburgh 


1835 


105 






Alice Maria h 


Cincinnati 


1835 


95 






Alpha h 


Rising Sun 


1835 


58 






Algonquin 


Pittsburgh 


1835 


222 






Arabian 


do.^ 


1835 


101 






Artist 


Browns'ille 


1834 


108 






Adriatic 


Cincinnati 


1835 


432 






Adventure 


Pittsburgh 


1835 


50 






Anna Calhoun 


Wheeling 


1835 


138 






Augusta 


Cincinnati 


1835 


312 






Beaver 


Louisville 


1829 


139 




Worn out. 


Balise 






300 


1826 


Burnt. 


BuiFaloe 


Pittsburgh 


1816 


250 


1819 


Worn out. 


Belle Creole I 


Cincinnati 


1823 


122 


1829 


Snagged. 


Bolivar h 


Pittsburgh 


1825 


130 




Worn out. 


Belvidere I 


Portsmo'th 


1825 


160 


1831 


Worn out. 



150 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS, 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 




O 


Q 


How destroyed. 


Blakely 








250 






Ben. Franklin I 


Cincinnati 


1826 


165 


1833 


Abandoned. 


Beaver 


I 


do. 


1826 


148 


1827 




Baltimore 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1828 


73 






Beverly Chew- 












Name changed to Pilot. 


Belfast 


h 


Cincinnati 


1829 


435 






Brandywine 


Ti 


do. 


1828 


500 


1832 


Burnt — aboveMemphis 


Banner 


h 


Ripley 


1830 


90 




Changed to Calavar. 


Balise Packet 




Pittsburgh 


1819 


50 






Boston 


h 


do 


1831 


157 






Bolivar 


h 


Grave Cr'k 


1831 


46 






Baltic 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


407 






Bonita 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


140 






Black Hawk 


h 


N. Albany 


1832 


160 




Changed to Heroine. 


Bravo 


h 


Wheeling 


1832 


85 






Barrataria 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


100 






Bonnets of ) 
Blue J 


h 


Cumb'land 
river 


1832 


186 






Black Hawk 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


160 






Bayou Sara 


h 


do. 


1833 


275 






Beaver 


h 


Beaver 


1833 


60 






Boone's Lick 


/t Pittsburgh 


1833 


295 






Black Hawk 




Cincinnati 


1832 


150 






Bunker Hill 




N. Albany 


1834 


301 






Boone 




do. 


1834 


110 




[Lick. 


Missouri Belh 


i 


Elizabeth'n 


1834 


164 


1834 


Sunk— By St. Boone's 


Ben. Franklin 




Cincinnati 


1834 


126 






Big Black 




Pittsburgh 


1835 


81 






Comet 


h 


Cincinnati 


1817 


154 


1823 


Snagged. 


Cincinnati 




Cincinnati 


1818 


157 




Snagged. 


Car of Com-> 
merce ) 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1819 


221 


1822 


Worn out. 


Columbus 


I 


N. Orleans 


1819 


450 


1824 


Worn out. 


Calhoun 


h 


Ky. river 


1819 


130 


1824 


Worn out. 


Cumberland 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1819 


246 


1825 


Worn out. 


Columbia 




Cincinnati 


1826 


220 




Burnt. 


Cherokee 


h 






125 




Burnt. 


Congress 




Wheeling 


1822 


160 




Worn out. 


Courier 


I 


Louisville 


1820 


119 




Worn out. 


Cotton Plant 








125 




Lost at Mobile. 


Columbus 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1826 220 




Sunk. 


Caledonia 


7t Cincinnati 


1824 371 






Cavalier 


I 


do. 


1825 


180 


1831 


Worn out. 


Clinton 


I 


do. 


1825 


1.32 


1831 


Worn out. 


Caravan 


h 


do. 


1825 


220 


1830 


Worn out. 


Columbia 


I 


do. 


1825 


200 


1833 


Snagged. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



151 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 




o 


Cm 

o . 


How destroyed. 


Cotton Plant 






1826 




Courtland 




Cincinnati 


1826 


212 






Cincinnati 


h 


do. 


1826 


106 






Coosa 


h 


Marietta 


1826 


173 


1831 


Sunk by S.B. Huntress 


Commerce 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


180 


1830 


Worn out. 


Crusader 


I 


Fred'ksb'g 


1826 


170 


1830 


Sunk. 


Catawba 


h 


Silver creek 1826 


170 






Chiesapeake 




Big Bone 


1827 






Never run. 


Cleopatra 


h 


N. Albany 


1826 


150 






Criterion 


h 


do. 


1828 


200 






Cumberland 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1828 


100 


1831 


Sunk. 


Car of Com- ) 


h 


West Port 


1827 


150 


1832 


Sunk. 


merce ) 














Citizen 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1829 


120 




Sunk. 


Constitution 


h 


Cincinnati 


1829 


300 






Cedar Branch h 












Cora 


h 


Pittsbtirgh 


1829 


140 






Corsair 


h 


do. 


1829 


121 






Courier 


h 


Cincinnati 


1830 


100 


1835 


Worn out. 


Chieftain 


h 


N. Albany 


1830 


120 






Cotton Plant 


h 


Cincinnati 


1830 


262 


1832 


Burnt at New Orleans. 


Convoy 


h 


do. 


1830 


315 






Cincinnatian 


I 


do. 


1830 


236 


1834 


Worn out. 


Colbert 


h 












Carrolton 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


186 






Columbus 


h 


do. 




50 






Charleston 


h 


Big Sandy 


1830 


80 






Conveyance 


h 


Cincinnati 


1831 


90 






Companion 


h 


Ripley 


1831 


100 






Courier 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


160 


1834 


Worn out. 


Choctaw 


h 


do. 


1831 


136 






Chesapeake 


h 


Marietta 


1831 


154 






ChiefJustice> 
Marshall J 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1832 


179 






ChattahoocheeA 


Cincinnati 


1832 


100 






Caroline 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1828 


90 


1834 


Sunk. 


Creole 


h 


Cumb'ld R. 


1829 


171 




Worn out. 


Chippewa 


h 


Steubenv'le 


1832 


140 






Caroline 


h 


N. Albany 


1832 


180 






Caspian 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


200 






Champlain 


h 


Augusta 


1832 


108 


1834 


Sunk, below St. Louis. 


Chester 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1832 








Charleston 


h 


Cincinnati 


1831 








Carolton 


h 


Beaver 


1830 








Cavalier 


h 


Ripley 


1832 








Chickasaw 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1832 









152 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 


When 
Built. 

Tonn. 


«4-l 

o . 


How destroyed. 


Cayuga h 


Pittsburgh 


1833 








Clinton h 


Wheeling 


1828 






Worn out. 


Chancellor h 


Shauset'wn 


1832 








Compromise h 


Louisville 


1832 








Champion h 


Bridgeport 


1833 








Carol h 


Portsmo' th 


1832 








Ceres h 


Browns'ille 


'1833 








Citizen h 


Richmond 


1833 




1834 


Sunk. 


Caledonia h 


Ripley 


1833 








Choctaw h 


Pittsburgh 


1833 


120 






Consort h 


Browns'ille 


18321130 


1832 


Sunk. 


Courtland h 


Cincinnati 


1826200 


1833 


Sunk. 


Cumberland h 


Pittsburgh 


1827 


120 




Worn out. 


Commerce h 


do. 


1834 


170 






Cygnet h 


Cincinnati 


1834 


77 






Chickasaw h 


do. 


1834 


152 






Claiborne h 


Pittsburgh 


1834 


327 






Despatch 


Browns'ille 


1817 


7511820 


Worn out. 


Dolphin h 


Pittsburgh 


1819 


146il834 


Worn out. 


DeWittClint'nA 


do. 


1826 


200 


1830 


Worn out. 


Decatur h 


Browns'ille 


1826 


113 




Sunk. 


Diana h 


Brush Ck. 


1828 


100 


1833 


Sunk. 


Delaware h 


Pittsburgh 


1828 


100 


1832 


Sunk; rais-d;aband'nd. 


Dolphin h 


Aurora 


1826 


90 




Destroyed. 


Don Juan Z 


Louisville 


1831 


100 






Dolphin h 


Portsmo' th 


1830 


112 


1832 


Burnt, below Wheeling 


Dove h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


100 






Dan'l Webster A 


Cincinnati 


1829 


80 


1834 


Worn out. 


Delphine h 


do. 


1832 


137 


1833 


Burnt. 


Dover h 


Cumb'ld R. 


1832 


200 






D. O'Connell h 


N. Albany 


1833 


200 




[Mississippi. 


Daniel Boone 


do. 


1826 


264 


1832 


Sunk ; Canadian Reach, 


Don Pedro 










Changed to Leonidas. 


Denmark 


Wheeling 


1834 


75 






Despatch 


Pittsburgh 


1832 


338 






Detroit 


do. 


1835 


137 






Dover 


do. 


1835 


80 






Dan'l Webster 


JefFerson'le 


1835 


389 






Dayton 


Pittsburgh 


1835 


118 






Enterprise 


Browns'ille 


1814 


75 


1817 


Worn out. 


Exchange 


Louisville 


1818 214 


1824 


Worn out. 


Elizabeth 


do. 


1817 243 




Worn out. 


Expedition 


Pittsburgh 


1818120 






Expedition 


Wheeling 


1819 235 


1824 


Worn out. 


Eagle 


Cincinnati 


1818; 


118 




Snagged, above N. 0. 
Sunk. 


Eclipse 7i 


Pittsburgh 


1823! 


120 





WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



153 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 




o 


"S o 


How destroyed. 


Eliza 


h 


Cincinnati 


1821 


"65 




Worn out. 


Emerald 


h 


Cumb'ld R. 


1824 


150 


1830 


Worn out. 


Echo 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


150 




Worn out. 


Erie 


h 


do. 


1826 


125 




Worn out. [Chain. 


Es?ex 


h 


do. 


1827 


135 


1829 


Broke in two, on Great 


Emigrant 


h 


Cincinnati 


1829 


761832 


Sunk by ice. 


Experiment 


h 


Browns'ille 


1830 


85 






Enterprise 


k 


Pittsburgh 


1830 


150 






Eagle 


h 


do. 


1830 


40 






Express 


h 


Cincinnati 


1831 


105 






Exchange 


h 


Louisville 


1830 


32 




Abandoned. 


Enterprise 


h 


Shousto\vn 


1830 


111 


1832 


Snagged. 


Envoy- 


h 


Cincinnati 


1831 


96 






Elk 


h 


Browns'ille 


1829 


60 


1833 


Abandoned. 


Emigrant 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


90 


1832 


Lost by ice. 


Erin 


h 


Covington 


1833 


100 






Erie 


h 


Browns'ille 


1827 


52 




Worn out. 


Eclipse 


h 


Marietta 


1832 


60 






El'n Douglass 


h 


N. Albany 


1833 


266 






Exchange 




Cookstown 


1835 


68 




[vieve. 


Franklin 




Pittsburgh 


1817 


1501822 


Snagged, near St. Gen- 


Frankfort 




Ky. River 


1818 


250 1822 


Worn out. 


Fayette 


h 


Louisville 


1819 


314 




Worn out. 


Fidelity 


I 


New York 


1821 


150 




Destroyed. 


Florence 




Clarksville 


1822 


60 




Destroyed. 


Fire Fly 




Louisville 




19 




Destroyed. 


Florida 


I 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


278 




Destroyed. 


Fort Adams 








125 




Burnt. 


Floridn 


I 


Cincinnati 


1826 


250 




Burnt, on Mobile river. 


Feliciana 


h 


Philadelpha 


1820 


408 




Still running. 


Favorite 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1822|260 




Worn out. 


Florence 


h 


Silver Cr'k. 


1822 60 




Worn out. 


Fanny 


I 


New York 


1823|120'1827 


Went back to N. York. 


Friendship 


h 


Pittsburgh 


18251200 


Worn out. 


Fame 


h 


do. 


1826;170il830 


Worn out. 


Facility 


I 


Cincinnati 


1827 


117 




Worn out. 


Fairy 


I 


do. 


1827 


80 


1831 


Sunk. 


Forrester 


h 


Browns'ille 


1827 


100 


1833 


Burnt, on Cumberland. 


Farmer 


I 


Cincinnati 


1831 


277 






Freedom 


h 


Wheeling 


1831 


135 






Favorite 


h 


Nashville 


1831 


155 


1832 


Sunk, robbed & burnt. 


Friend 


h 


Cincinnati 


1831 


118 






Falcon 


h 


do. 


1832 


91 


1833 


SunkbyS.B. Senator. 


Fairy Queen 


h 


Brush Ck. 


1832 


66 






Friendship 


h 


Cincinnati 


1833 


100 






Free Trader 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1832 


109 







154 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



Names. 



Fame 
Farmer 
Flora 

Geo. Madison 
Gen. Jackson 
Gen. Pike 
Gen. Clarke 
Gov. Shelby 
Gen. Harrison 
Gen. Greene I 
Gen. Robinson A 
Grecian 
Gen. Pike 
Geo.Wash-) 
ington ) 
Gen. Brown 
Gen. Scott 
Gen. Wayne 
Gen. Carroll 
Gen. Hamilton A 
Gen. Marion 
Gen. Coffee 
Galena &St.> 
Lou is Packet^ 
Grampus 
• Galena 
Globe 

Gen. Neville 
Gondola 
Gleaner 
Guyandot 
Gondolier . 
Gallipolis 
Gazelle 
Grenadier 
Galenian 
Gladiator 
General Pike 
Gen. Sumpter 
Gov. Clarke 
George Collier 
Hecla 
Henderson 
Hero 

Henry Clay 
Hornet 



Where 
Built. 



Pittsburgh 

do. 

do. 

do. 

do. 
Cincinnati 
Louisville 

do. 

do. 
Cincinnati 
Newport 
Louisville 
Big Bone 

Cincinnati 



Pittsburgh 
Beaver 
Pittsburgh 
Cincinnati 

do. 

do. 
Pittsburgh 

N. Albany 

Cincinnati 

do. 
St. Louis 
Pittsburgh 

do. 

do. 
Cincinnati 
Nashville 
Gallipolis 
AjPittsburgh 
h Bridgeport 
Pittsburgh 
Cincinnati 

do. 

do. 
Louisville 



Cincinnati 

do. 
Steuben' He 
Licking R. I 
Brandenb'gl 



^m 



1832 
1833 
1835 
1817 
1817 
1818 
1818 
1819 
1819 
1820 
1819 
1824 
1824 

1825 



132 
277 
119 
150 
150 
180 
200 
106 

306 

238 
160 
150 

360 



1822 
1822 
1823 
1822 
1822 
1823 
1823 
1823 
1826 



1825 180 

1825 220 

1825350|1829 

18262721829 



1826,158 

1826 88 
1826 200 



1826 

1827 
1829 
1829 
1822 
1830 
1830 
1831 
1831 
1832 
1832 
1832 
1834 
1834 
1835 
1835 
1835 



1818 
1818 
1819 



150 

200 
110 
150 
150 
120 
100 
91 
110 
100 
130 
150 
130 
120 
151 
188 
149 



1829 



1832 



1201823 
1241823 
1201822 

1819|l501826 

182 illSl 



How destroyed. 



I [land. 
Cumber- 



[land. 



Worn out. 
Snagged, on 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Destroyed. 

Snagged, on Cumber 
do. near N. Madrid, 
Burnt at New Orleans, 
Worn out. 



Burnt at Mobile. 

Worn out. 

Sunk by S. B. Diana. 

Worn out. 



Worn out. 

Changed to Hawk Eye. 
Aban'd up the Miss. 
Worn out. 

Sunk by unloading. 

Changed to Rambler. 



Mail boat. 



Worn out. 

Worn out. [conda;sunk 
Struck a rock nearGol- 
Destroyed on Mobile R 
Lost at Mobile. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



155 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 


S 5 


o 

en 


o . 
% O 


How destroyed. 


Hope 




Louisville 


1821 


~75 


1825 


Sunk, near Bayou Sara. 


Hercules 


h 


Cincinnati 


1826275 


1828 


Sunk. 


High'd Laddie h 


do. 


1824 


80 




Destroyed. 


Herald 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1824 


150 




Destroyed. 


Hel. M'Gregor ^ Cincinnati 


1825 


340 


1831 


Destroyed at Mobile.' 


Hercules 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


165 


1831 


Worn out. 


Hibernia 


h 


N. Albany 


1826 


200 


1834 


Worn out. 


Huntress 


h 


do. 


1826 


300 






Huntsville 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1829 


350 






Huron 


h 


do. 


1829 


230 




Snagg'd, above Natchez 


Home 


h 


do. 


1829 


120 


1831 


Burnt, at Beaver. 


Huatsman 


h 


do. . 


1829 


150 






Highlander 


h 


Browns'ille 


1829 


120 






Herald 


h 


Marietta 


1829 


120 






Hope 


h 


Zanesviile 


1828 


60 






Hudson 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1829 


346 






Hatchie 


h 


do. 


1830 


100 






Herald 


h 


do. 


1831 


200 


1835 


Worn out. 


Harry Hill 


h 


Cumb'ldR. 


1832 


161 






Homer 


h 


N. Albany 


1832 


500 






Halcyon 


h 


Browns'ille 


1832 


121 






Helen Mar 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


89 






Henry Clay 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


425 






Hawk Eye 


h 


Cincinnati 


1829 


120 




Formerly the Galena. 


Heroine 


h 


Bridgeport 


1832 


96 






Heroine 


h 


N. Albany 


1832 


160 






Huntsville 


h 


Shaustown 


1829 


339 






Huntress 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1834 


97 






Hunter 


h 


do. 


1834 


110 






Independence 




do. 


1818 


50 






Independence 




Salt river 


1818 


100 


1821 


Worn out. 


Indiana 


h 


N. Albany 


1822 


180 


1829 


Worn out. 


Illinois 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


130 


1828 


Snagged. 


Integrity 


h 


Cincinnati 


1827 


100 






Isabella 


h 


Marietta 


1827 


250 






Industry 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1829 


80 




Name changed to Elk. 


Illinois 


h 


Jefferson' le 


1831 


110 






Ivanhoe 




Pittsburgh 


1834 


197 






Indian 




Cincinnati 


1834 


70 






Indiana 




do. [town 


1834 


. 70 






Iowa 




Elizabeth- 


1834 


144 






Iberia 




Cincinnati 


1834 


156 






James Monroe li 


Pittsburgh 


1816 


150 


1821 


Sunk, below Red River 


Johnston 


h 


Wheeling 


1818 


140 


1822 


Worn out. [Louis. 


James Ross 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1818 


270 


1823 


Stove by ice, at St. 


Jubilee 


h 


do. 


1826 


205 




Worn out. 



156 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



Names. 



Where 
Built. 



Josephine 



h Cincinnati 



James O'Hara h 

July 4th 

Juniata 

Junius 

Jefferson 

Jefferson 

Java 

James Monroe h 

John Nelson h 



Pittsburgh 

N. Albany 

Pittsburgh 

Elizabeth'n 

Wheeling 

Nashville 

Marietta 

Cincinnati 

Pittsburgh 



Jack Downing AJGallipol 



Josephine A 

John Hancock 

Kentucky 

Kanawha 

Kentuckian 

Knoxville 

Kitty Clover 

Kentuckian 

Leopard 

Louisiana 

Lafayette 

J^iberator 

LouisVille 

Laurence 

Lexington 

Liberator 

Lady Wash 

ington 
Lady of the 

Lake 
Lady Wash 

ington 
Livingston h 
La Grange h 
Lady Lafayette 
Lady Franklin h. 
La Fourche 
Lark 

Louisiana 
Laurel 
Lady Byron 
Louisville 
Lioness 
Little Rock h 
Lady Madison h 



Marietta 

Brush Ck. 

Ky. River 

Cincinnati 

Pittsburgh 

Cincinnati 

Wheeling 

Pittsburgh 

Louisville 

N. Orleans 

Pittsburgh 

do. 
Louisville 
Cincinnati 
Frankfort 
Pittsburgh 

do. 
N. Albany 

Silver Ck. 

Sraithland 
Wheeling 

Portsmo'th 

N. Albany 
Pittsburgh 
Cincinnati 

Steuben'lle 
Pittsburgh 
N. Albany 
JefFerson'le 
Bridgeport 



^pq 



o . 

O CO 



50 
200 
100 
118 



1826 

1828 

1831 

1832 

1832!l29 

1832!l56 

1832100 

1830103 



1831 
1833 
1833 

1834 
1835 
1818 
1828 
1829 
1831 
1829 
1829 
1820 
1818 
1825 
1826 
1823 
1824 
1825 
1826 

1826 
1826 

1826 

1826 

1828 

1829 
1829 

1830 

1830 
1831 
1832 
1832 
1832, 



170 
156 
123 

90 

95 
112 

60 
255 
120 

60 
331 

60 
103 
150 
200 

60 
122 
250 
200 

147 
170 

360 

200 
135 
65 
200 
200 
100 
307 

100 
327 
175 
100 
130 



1831 
1834 

1834 
1821 

1825 



1827 
1829 
1834 



How destroyed. 



Worn out. 

Sunk, above Wheeling. 

Sunk. 

Sunk, below St. Louis 

Worn out 
Sunk. 



Abandoned. 



Snagged, 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 



[Chacot. 
near Point 



1832 Sunk by ice. 

[land. 
1832 Snagged, at Wolf Is- 



1832 

1832 
1835 



1832 
1833 



Lost by ice. 

Worn out. 
Abandoned. 

Sunk by collision. 

Name chang'd to Uncas 



Lost, striking a stump. 

Lost, by explosion of 

[powder. 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



157 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 




o 

H 

120 


O . 


How destroyed. 


Lady Jackson 


h 


Nashville 


1832 




Lady Wash-) 
ington ) 


h 


Marietta 


1832 


100 


















Lancaster 


h 


near Pitt'h 


1832 


135 






Lafayette 


h 


Cincinnati 


1833 


84 


1833 


Burnt, mouth of Ohio. 


Leonidas 


h 


do. 


1833 


125 






Logan 


h 


do. 


1834 


85 






Le Flore 


k 


do. 


1834 


115 






Lady Boone 




Wheeling 


1834 


40 






Lady Scott 




Maysville 


1834 


70 






Lady Marshall 


Cincinnati 


1834 


120 






Lewis Cass 




do. - 


1835 


122 






Levant 




do. 


1835 


288 






MaidofOrleans/jPhilad. . 


1818 


193 




Destroyed. 


Maysville 


/i Maysville 


1818 


209 


1824 


Worn out. 


Manhattan 


ZNew York 


1819 


427 


1825 


Worn out. 


Mississippi 


I Mobile 


1819 


380 


1825 


Worn out. 


Mandan 




Louisville 


1819 


150 


1825 


Snagged, above N. 0. 


Missouri 


h 


Newport 


1819 


177 


1826 


Snagged. 


Mars 


h 


Wheeling 


1819 


55 


1822 


Snagged, above N. 0. 


Mo. Packet 




Louisville 


1819 


60 


1820 


Snagged, on the Mo. 


Mobile 




N. Orleans 


1820 


145 






Magnet 


I 


Louisville 


1822 


140 


1827 


Worn out. 


Miami 


h 


Cincinnati 


1822 


100 


1828 


Sunk. 


Mechanic 


h 


Marietta 


1823 


120 


1827 


Stove, near St. Louis. 


Mexico 


h 


Cincinnati 


1823 


120 


1827 


Worn out. 


Muskingum 


h 


Marietta 


1825 


150 


1829 


Snagged, on Red River 


Montezuma 


I 


Cincinnati 


1827 


200 


1829 


Snagged, near Helena. 


Marietta 


h 


Marietta 


1825 


150 






Messenger 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


160 


1830 


Worn out. 


Maryland 


h 


do. 


1827 


160 




[ester. 


Monongahela 


h 


Browns'ille 


1827 


100 




Name changed to For- 


Missouri 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1828 


150 






Mountaineer 


h 


Browns'ille 


1825 


175 


1832 


Abandoned. 


Montgomery 


I 


Cumb'ld R. 


1828 


140 


1829 


Sunk. 


Mohican 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1829 


350 






Monticello 


h 


do. 


1829 


140 


1833 


Sunk, in Bayou Plaq'e 


Magnolia 


I 


Cincinnati 


1830 


100 






Minerva 


h 




1830 








Mobile 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1830 


150 


1831 


Burnt. [burgh. 


Mercury 


h 


Steuben' lie 


1819 


15 




Struck by S. B. Pitts- 


Messenger 


h 


Ripley 


1831 


100 






Memphis 


h 


Nashville 


1831 


380 






Michigan 


h 


Beaver 


1831 


338 






Mohawk 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


555 






Mt. Vernon 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


90 







158 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 


u 

1832 


£3 
O 


U-^ 

O . 

a o 


How destroyed. 


Metamora h 


Louisville 




Mediterranean h 


Pittsburgh 


1832 


600 




Largest boat. 


Missourian h 


do. 


1832 


215 


1832 


Cabin burnt off. 


Mobile Farmer A 


do. 


1832 


214 






Mountaineer h 


Bridgeport 


1832 


188 






Miner h 


Pittsburgh 


1833 


70 






Madison h 


Wheeling 


1828 


50 






Majestic 


Pittsburgh 


1834 


323 






Missouri Belle 


Elizab'to 'n 


1834 


164 






Mogul 


Pittsburgh 


1834 


414 






Minerva 


do. 


1834 


87 






Marion 


Fredonia 


1835 


140 






Mazeppa 


Louisville 


1834 


135 






Monroe 


Wheeling 


1835 


90 






Mt. Pleasant 


do. 


1835 


94 






Madison 


Pittsburgh 


1835 


322 






Marion 


do. 


1835 


109 






Natchez 












New Orleans 


Pittsburgh 


1815 


350 


1818 


Sunk near B. Rouge. 


Napoleon 


Louisville 


1817 


316 


1822 


Worn out. 


Nashville 


Cincinnati 


1822 


200 


1826 


Snagged, above N. 0. 


NashvillePack't 


do. 


lb27 


125 


1831 


Worn out. 


Natchitoches 


do. 


1826 






Worn out. 


Neptune 


N. Orleans 


1821 


58 




Worn out. 


Natchez I 


New York 


1822 


240 


1829 


Snagg'djbelow Natchez 


New York Ji 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


310 


1832 


Snagg'd near Plumb Pt 


Native I 


Cincinnati 


1827 


100 




Snagged. 


Neptune h 


Pittsburgh 


1828 


200 




Snagged, mouthof . 


N. America A 


do. 


1828 


300 




Abandoned. 


Nashville h 


Cincinnati 


1828 


398 






Niagara h 


Steuben' lie 


1829 


150 






Nile h 


Pittsburgh 


1829 


130 






New Jersey h 


do. 


1830 


150 


1832 


Sunk by ice. 


New Pennsy'aA 


do. 


1827 


140 






Napoleon h 


do. 


1831 


160 






N. Alabama h 


Cincinnati 


1831 


365 






N. Brunswick h 


Pittsburgh 


1832 


200 


1833 


Burnt, above Vicksb'g 


Nimrod h 




1832 








Navarino h 


Gallipolis 


1832 


147 






Neptune h 


Jefferson' le 


1832 


140 






NewEmigrant A 


Cincinnati 


1832 


90 






Native 


Bridgeport 


1834 


52 






NewCompanion 


Browns'lle 


1834 


134 






Navigator 


Bridgeoprt 


1834 


85 






New York 


Cincinnati 


1835 


134 






Neosho 


do. 


1834 


88 







WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



159 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 


1811 


400 


1813 


How destroyed. 


Orleans 




Pittsburgh 


Snagg'd, near B. Rouge 


Ohio 


h 


N. Albany 


1817 


364 


1819 


Worn out. 


Olive Branch 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1819 


313 




Worn out. 


Osage 




Cincinnati 


1820 


149 


1823 


Sunk. 


Ohio 


h 


Portsmo ' th 


1824 


180 


1828 


Destroyed. 


Opelousas 


h 


Cincinnati 


1826 


133 




Worn out. 


Ontario 


h 


Silver Ck. 


1826 


106 




Worn out. 


Oregon 


h 


Marietta 


1827 


225 


1832 


Sunk, at Plumb Point. 


Oliver H. Perry 


Cincinnati 


1829 


100 




Name changed to Dan. 


Ohio 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


288 




[Webster. 


Olive 


h 


do. 


1830 


100 




Changed to West'n Va. 


Odd Fellow 


h 


Elizabeth'n 


1830 






Changed to Traveler. 


Orleans 


h 


N. Albany 


1831 


326 






Otto 


h 


JefFerson'le 


1831 


163 






Osage 


h 


Morgant'n 


1832 


90 






Orion 


h 


Marietta 


1832 








Ophelia 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


110 






O'Connell 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1833 


107 






Olive Branch 


h 


Elizabeth'n 


1833 


76 






Ouachita 


h 


Cincinnati 


1833 


162 






Ohioan 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1833 


104 






Otsego 




Evansville 


1835 


95 






Providence 


I 


Ky. River 


1818 


450 


1824 


Snagged, above N. 0. 


Post Boy 


h 


Louisville 


1818 


231 


1824 


Worn out. 


Perseverance 




Cincinnati 


1818 


50 


1820 


Burnt, near Madison. 


Paragon 


I 


do. 


1819 


355 


1828 


Worn out. [isville. 


President 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1824 


300 




Run ashore, belowLou- 


PhcEnix 


h 


do. 


1823 


200 


1828 


Worn out. 


Pit'h&St.^ 
Louis Pkt. S 


h 


do. 


1823 


131 


1827 


Burnt. 


Pittsburgh 


h 


do. 


1823 


133 




Worn out. 


Pennsylvania 


h 


do. 


1823 


107 


1827 


Worn out. [Louis. 


Pilot 


I 


Big Bone 


1825 


150 




Snagged, below Saint 


Paul Pry 


h 






60 




Sunk, on Red River. 


Plough Boy 


h 


Frankfort 


1824 


120 






Patriot 


h 


Cincinnati 


1825 


258 


1831 


Worn out. 


Pioneer 


h 


do. 


1825 


200 


1830 


Worn out. 


PhcEbus 


h 


do. 


1825 


80 






Planter 


I 


do. 


1825 


130 






Paul Jones 


h 


Beaver 


1825 


300 


1831 


Worn out. 


Post Boy 


I 


New York 


1825 


250 






Pocahontas 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1825 


260 






Philadelphia 


I 


Cincinnati 


1826 


445 


1834 


Worn out. 


Pocahontas 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1826 


260 






Pilot 


h 


New York 


1827 


240 






Potomac 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1828 


80 


1833 


Abandoned* 



160 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



Names. 


Where 
Built. 






03 O 


How destroyed. 


Porpoise h 


Cincinnati 


1828 


326 




[Fourche. 


Phoenix h 


Pittsburgh 


1828:250 


1832 


Burnt, near Bayou La 


Powhattan It 


do. ^ 


1828 


221 






Plaquemine h 


do. 


1828 


65 






Pennsylvania h 


do. 


1827 


150 


1833 


Abandoned. 


Plaquemine h 


do. 


1829 


100 






Planet li 


Cincinnati 


1829 


100 






Packet h 


Pittsburgh 


1829 


90 






Pacific h 


Cincinnati 


1829 


387 






Paragon h 


do. 


1829 


90 






Pearl h 


do. 




69 






Peruvian h 


Pittsburgh 


1830 


400 


1833 


Snagg'd below Natchez 


Pittsburgh h 


do. 


1831 


100 


1832 


Lost by ice. 


Polander Ji 


Browns'ille 










Planter A 


Pittsburgh 


1831 


116 






Portsmouth h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


95 


1833 


Sunk in Wabash. 


President h 


Cumb'ld R. 


1831 


360 




[sourian. 


PaulClifFord h 


Cincinnati 


1831 


100 




Struck by S. B. Mis- 


Peoria h 


Elizabeth'n 


1832 


78 






Planter h 


Pittsburgh 


1833 


107 






Post Boy A Steuben^lle 


1833 


44 






Privateer APittsburgh 


1833 


149 






Plough Boy A Louisville 


1833 


80 






Protector A 


Pittsburgh 


1834 


156 


1834 


Burnt. 


Paul Jones A 


Cincinnati 


1834 


170 






Princeton A 


Rockville 


1834 


1.33 






Potosi A 


Pittsburgh 


1834 


121 






Plough Boy A 


do. 


1834 


142 






Ponchartrain 


N. Albany 


1834 


145 






Patrick Henry 


Cincinnati 


1835 


115 






Pawnee 


Pittsburgh 


1835 


198 






Philadelphia 


Marietta 


1835 


115 






Pioneer 


Pittsburgh 


1835 


112 






Rifleman 


Louisville 


1818 


231 


1824 


Burnt at Mobile. 


Rapide A 


Pittsburgh 


1819 


189 


1822 


Burnt. 


Robert Fulton / 


New York 


1820 


500 




Worn out. 


Rocket 


Louisville 


1820 


75 


1821 


Worn out. [cot. 


Rafus Putnam A 


Marietta 


1822 


60 


1826 


Snagged near Port Chi- 


Robert Burns A 


Cincinnati 


1825 


125 


1828 


Burnt. 


Rob Roy A 


do. 


1823 


240 


1829 


Worn out. 


Rambler A 


Pittsburdi 


1823 


120 






Red River /Marietta" 


1S24 


180 




Worn out. 


Robert Emmet AjLouisville 


1825 


40 






Red River Pkt A Cincinnati 


1826 


120 




Worn out. 


Reindeer A Brovi^ns'ille 


1826 


60 




Worn out. 


Republican A 


Cincinnati | 


1826 


50 







WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



161 



Names. 




Where 
Built. 




PI 
o 


o , 

rf o 

1830 


Rover 


h 


Cincinnati 


1827 


100 


Rising Sun 




Rising Sun 




100 




Robt. Fulton 


I 


Cincinnati 


1828 


128 


1834 


Red Rover 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1828 


50 




Red Rover 


h 


do. 


1829 


500 




Ruhama 


h 


do. 


1829 


70 




Reaper 


h 


Cincinnati 


1831 


1.30 


1832 


Reindeer 


h 


Browns'ille 


1830 


100 


1833 


Rambler 


k 


Cincinnati 


1831 


93 


1833 


Return 


h 


nearPitts'h 


1832 


127 


1833 


Rapide 


h 


N. Albany 


1830 


160 




Rising Sun 


h 


Lawrenc'h 


1832 


40 


1833 


Richmond 


h 


N.Richm'd 


1833 


40 




Rambler 


h 


Nashville 


1831 


100 




Randolph 


h 


N. Albany 


1833 


500 




Reliance 


h 


Browns'ille 


1833 


95 




Revenue 


h 


Louisville 


1833 


130 




Reindeer, 3d 


h 


Browns'ille 


1834 


104 




Rob Roy 


Ji 


Jefferson' le 


1834 


192 




Ruf us Putnam 7« 


Marietta 


1835 


98 




Roanoke 


h 


Wheeling 


18351100 




Robert Emmet 


do. 


1835104 




Robert Morris 


Pittsburgh 


1835128 




Rover 




do. 


1835 65 




Saint Louis 


h 


do. 


1818,250 


1821 


Speedwell 


h 


Big Bone 


1827 


80 


1828 


St. Louis Pkt 


h 


N. Albany 


1826 


150 




Shamrock 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1827 


125 




Shepardess 


h 


Economy 


1827 


140 


1831 


St. Mary 


h 


Nashville 


1828 






St. John 


h 


Cincinnati 


1828100 


1832 


Star 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1828,120 




Souvenir 


h 


N. Albany 


1828140 




Seventy-Six 


h 


Cincinnati 


1829 200 


1833 


St. Louis 


h 


do. 


1829145 


1834 


Sylph 


li 


do. 


1829 70 




Saratoga 


I 


do. 


1829140 


1832 


Stranger 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1828100 


1832 


Shark, Tow B 


.h 


Cincinnati 


1829 


315 




Superior 


h 


Steuben' He 


1823 


70 




Sciota 


h 


Gallipolis 


1822170 


1828 


Swallow 












Sam Patch 




Pittsburgh 


1830 


50 




Shoal water 










1831 


Scout 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 




1833 


Samson 


h 


Cincinnati 


1831 


211 





How destroyed. 



Worn out. 

Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 

Sunk, below Natchez. 
Burnt, at New Albany. 
Burnt, at Louisville. 
Sunk by ice. 

Sunk, Tennessee River 



Burnt, near N. Madrid. 
Snagg'd,belowWheerg 

Worn out. 
Worn out. 

Sunk. [ger. 

Name chang'd toStran- 

Sunk, striking a stump 
Snagged, in Gr'd Gulf. 

Burnt, at New Orleans. 
Worn out. 



Worn out. 



Sunk. 
Abandoned. 



14 



162 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



Names. 




Where 




Built. 


Signal 


"1 


Cincinnati 


Senator 


I 


Portsmo' th 


Statesman 


h 


Browns'ille 


Scotland 


h 


N. Albany 


Sentinel 


h 


Browns'ille 


Sangamon 


h 


Pittsburgh 


Splendid 


h 


Cincinnati 


Star of the W. A 


do. 


Spy 


h 


Fred'kst'n 


St. Martin 


h 


N. Albany 


Superior 


h 


Cincinnati 


Sea Gull 


h 


Warren 


Shamrock 


h 


Portland 


St. Landry 


h 


do. 


Sun 






St. Leon 


h 


Jefferson'le 


Science 




Fredk'town 


Southron 




Steuben'ille 


Siam 




Pittsburgh 


Swiss Boy 




Cincinnati 


Selma 




Pittsburgh 


South Alabama 


Elizabetli'n 


Southerner 




Cincinnati 


Tamerlane 




Pittsburgh 


Th. Jefferson 


h 


do. 


Teche 


I 


N. Orleans 


Telegraph 




Louisville 


Telegraph 




Pittsburgh 


Tennessee 


I 


Cincinnati 


Telegraph 






Tecumseh 


h 


Cincinnati 


Tuscumbia 


h 


do. 


Triton 


h 


do. 


Talisman 


h 


Pittsburgh 


Traveler 


h 


Wheeling 


Talma 


h 


Pittsburgh 


Tennessean 


h 


Cincinnati 


Trenton 


h 


Pittsburgh 


Tigress 


I 


Cincinnati 


Tour 


h 


do. 


Tallyho 


h 


Pittsburgh 


Tippecanoe 


h 


Cincinnati 


Telegraph 


I 


do. 


Tariff 


h 


Pittsburgh 


Tricolor 


h 


Portsmo' th 


Th. Yeatman 


h 


Cincinnati 






1831 
1831 
1831 
1831 
1831 
1832 
1832 
1830 
1832 
1832 
1832 
1833 
1831 
1832 

1833 

1834 

1834 

1835 

1835 

1835 

1835 

1835 

1818 

1818 

181 

1818 

1819 

1819 

1821 

1826 

1826 

1826 

1828 

1828 

1829 

1829 

1829 

1828 

1829 

1829 

1830 

1829 

1829 

1831 

1830 



03 O 



150 
183 
136 
185 
145 

90 
400 
150 

53 
160 
174 

40 
230 
150 

80 

70 
149 
128 
156 
355 
165 
320 
307 
250 
296 

60 
160 
416 
160 
212 
210 

50 
150 

50 
140 
250 
150 
200 
180 
150 
150 
189 

30 
130 
115 



1835 
1833 



1835 
1833 
1833 



1832 



How destroyed. 



Worn out. 

Burnt, at Louisville. 



Worn out. 

Snag'ged, in Arkansas. 

Burnt, near Donald- 

[sonville. 

Sunk, by S. B. Baltic. 



1824 Worn out. 
1822 Worn out. 

1825 Burnt, below Natchez. 
18l9Snagged, Isl. 21,Miss. 
1820 Burnt, near Pt. Chicot. 
l823,Snagged, above Natch. 

[Snagged, Cumb'ld R. 
1830 Worn out. 



1832 Burnt, at St. Louis. 

1832 Sunk, at St. Louis. 
l833|Worn out. 

1833 Snagged. 

1830 Burnt, at Rockport. 



1833 



Sunk, by S. B. N. Or- 
Burnt, below Wheeling 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



163 



Names. 



Where 
Built. 



Tobacco Plant h Nashville 

Tange peho A Cincinnati 

Transport 

Tuscarora 

Two Friends 

Tom Bowline 

Tiskilwa 



Tuscahoma 
Tuscumbia 
Tempest 
Teche 
Tuskina 
United States 
Uncle Sam 
Uncas 
Union 
Utility 
Vesuvius 
Vesta 
Volcano 
Virginia 
Vulcan 
Velocipede 
Velocipede 
Virginia 
Victory- 
Virginian 
Venture 
Volunteer 
Volant I 

Vermillion / 
Versailles / 

Vincennes / 
Veteran Z 

Van Buren 1 
Velocipede 1 
Washington 1 
West Engineer 
Wheeling Pkt. 
William Penn 
William Tell A 
Warrior 
Walk in Water 
W.D.Duncan A 
Waverly 
Walter Scott h 



A Pittsburgh 
^Cincinnati 
A Jefferson' fe 
h Portland 
AKenawa 
h\ 

A Marietta 
A Pittsburgh 
A Cincinnati 
A Pittsburgh 
Z Jefferson' le 
A Pittsburgh 

a| 

AjWilliamp't 
ALouisville 
Pittsburgh 
Cincinnati 
N. Albany 
AjWheeling 
AjCincinnati 
ZLouisville 
Z.Cincinnati 
l\ do. 
APittsburgh 
A Cincinnati 



Steuben' He 
Cincinnati 

do. 

do. 
Vincennes 
M'nco.Ky. 
Pittsburgh 
Cincinnati 
Wheeling 
Pittsburgh 
Wheeling 
Pittsburgh 
N. Richm'd 
Marietta 
N. York 
Pittsburgh 
Cincinnati 

do. 



1831 300 
1832| 90 
1832125 
1833 286 
1833jl30 
1833|100 
1834100 

1835] 82 
1835112 
1835152 
1835 268 
1819 644 
1829 500 
18301 90 
1831134 
1831 1 59 
1814390 
1816100 
1818217 
1819150 
1819 258 
1819100 
1824109 
1826122 
1829 100 
1829 90 



1830 80 
1830130 

1831 80 
1832100 
1833 86 



03 O 



1833 
1832 
1815 
1819 
1819 
1825 
1826 
1826 
1826 
1827 
1828 
1829 



90 
120 
212 

30 
100 
150 

90 
150 
425 
100 
100 
200 



1824 
1835 



How destroyed. 



Worn out. [lumbus- 
Name changed to Co- 



[and re-built. 
1821 Worn out. Burnt,l8l6, 

1821 Worn out. 

1822 Worn out. [evieve. 
1822 Snagged, near St.Gen- 
1824 Worn out. 

1824 Worn out. 



1832 Sunk. 



Sunk. 
1833 Burnt. 



1822 
1822 
1823 

1828 
1829 



Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Worn out. 
Snagged. 
Worn out. 



Worn out. 



164 



■WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



Names. 




Where 
Built. 


1830 


"80 


03 CO 
% O 

1831 


How destroyed. 


Whig 


~h 


Cincinnati 


Sunk by ice. 


W. Virginian 


h 


Wheeling 


1829 


90 


1831 


Sunk by ice. 


Watchman 


h 


Browns'ille 


1830 


129 






Wanderer 


h 


N. Albany 


1830 


186 






Wm Wallace 


h 


Portland 


1831 


90 






Winnebago 


h 


Beaver 


1830 


85 




* • 


Woodsman 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1831 








Whale, Tow B. A 


Marietta 


1832 


315 




[Ponchartrain. 


W. T. Barry 


h 


Cincinnati 


1832 


155 




Destroyed on Lake 


Warrior 


h 


Pittsburgh 


1832 


110 






Water Witch 


h 


Nashville 


1831 


120 


1833 


Sunk near Plaquemine. 


Wm. Parsons 


h 


Ripley 


1831 


116 






Wyoming 


h 


Augusta 


1832 


105 






Warsaw 


h 


Wheeling 


18S2 


146 






Wabash 


h 


N. Albany 


1827 


130 






Waterloo 


h 


JefFerson'le 


1833 


100 






Wm. Penn 


h 


Beaver 


1833 


88 






Warren 


h 


Cincinnati 


1833 


300 






Workey 


h 


do. 


1831 


118 




Changed to Friend- 


Washington 




Bridgeport 


1834 


145 






Wacousta 




Steuben' lie 


1834 


107 






Woodsman 




Pittsburgh 


1832 


98 






Wave 




Cincinnati 


1835 


94 







I 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 



165 



Comparative view of the numher of Steamboats built at different 
places. 

- 2 
2 

- 2 
1 



Pittsburgh, 


- 173 


Newport, 
Frankfort, - 


Cincinaati, - 


- 164 


Louisville, 


- 33 


New Richmond, 


New Albany, 


32 


St. Louis, - 


Brownsville, 


- 22 


Grave Creek, - 


Wheeling - 


19 


Big Sandy, - 


Marietta, 


- 18 


Augusta, - 


Steubenville, 


12 


Richmond, - 


JefFersonville, - 


- 10 


Aurora, - 


Nashville, - 


8 


Clarksville, - 


Portsmouth, 


-- 7 


Licking River, - 


Cumberland River, 


7 


Zanesville, - 


Beaver, - - - 


- 7 


Salt River, 


Ripley, 


6 


Smithland, - 


Elizabethtown, 


- 6 


Maysville, 


Bridgeport, - 


6 


Morgan town. 


New Orleans, - 


- 5 


Rockville, 


Silver Creek,- 


5 


Lawrenceburgh, 


Shousetown, 


- 4 


Rising Sun, 


Portland, 


4 


Warren, 


Fredericksburgh, 


- 3 


Economy, 


Big Bone, 


3 


Kenawa, 


Kentucky River, 


- 3 


Williamsportj - 


GallipoUs, - 


3 




Brush Creek, - 


- 2 





688 



The proportions of the above to the several States in which Steamboats 
are built for the Western waters, are nearly as follows: 



Ohio, - - - - 226 


Virginia, 


- 22 


Pennsylvania, - - 216 


Tennessee, - 


14 


Kentucky, - - - 56 


Other places, - 


7 


Indiana, - . ^ 47 







58S 



166 COST AND EXPENSES OF BOATS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Western steamboats — subject continued down to 1843. 

The number of steamboats employed in 1842, in navi- 
gating the Mississippi and its tributaries, was four hundred 
and fifty. The average burthen of these boats was two 
hundred tons each, making an aggregate of ninety 
thousand tons, and their aggregate value, at $80 00 
per ton $7,200,000. Many of these were fine vessels, 
afl^ording the most elegant accommodations for passengers, 
and comparing favorably, in beauty of model, complete- 
ness of finish, and all other particulars, with the best 
packets in any part of the world. 

The number of persons engaged in navigating our 
steamboats varies from twenty to fifty for each boat. The 
average is about thirty-five persons, which will give a 
total of fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty persons 
embarked in this navigation. 

It appears, from the reports of the Louisville and Port- 
land canal, that more than seven hundred flatboats have 
passed that canal in one year. At this rate there cannot 
be less than four thousand descending the Mississippi, and 
allowing five men to each boat, there are twenty thousand 
persons engaged in this branch of the navigation. The 
cost of these boats is $420,000, which, as they do not 
return, is an annual expense, and the expense of loading, 



COSTS AND EXPENSES OF BOATS. 167 

navigating and unloading them is $960,000, making the 
whole annual expenditure upon this class of boats $1,- 
380,000. 

In 1834, the number of steamboats in existence, on the 
Western waters, was two hundred and thirty, and they 
were estimated to carry thirty-nine thousand tons. The 
expense of running them was put down as follows: — 

60 boats, over 200 tons, 180 running days, at $140 per 

day, ----- $1,512,000 

70 boats, from 120 to 200 tons, 240 running days, at 

at $90 per day, - - - - 1,512,000 

100 boats, under 120 tons, 270 running days, at $60 

per day, ----- 1,620,000 



Total yearly expenses, $4,645,000 

This calculation, applied to the present number of boats, 
would result as follows: — 

110 boats, over 200 tons, 180 running days, at $140 

per day, $2,772,000 

140 boats, from 120 to 200 tons, 240 running days, 

$90 per day, 3,024,000 

200 boats, under 120 tons, 280 running days, at $60 

per day, . - . . - 3,240,000 



Total, $9,036,000 

This sum may be reduced to the different items pro- 
ducing it, in the following proportions: — 

For wages, 36 per cent., equal to - - - $3,252,960 

For wood, 30 per cent., equal to - . - 2,710,800 

For provisions, 18 per cent., equal to - - 1,626,480 

For contingencies, 16 per cent., equal to - - 1,445,760 



Total, $9,036,000 



168 COSTS AND EXPENSES OF BOATS. 

To this is to be added for insurance, 15 per cent., on 

$7,200,000, $1,080,000 

Tolls of the Louisville and Portland canal, . - - 250,000 

Interest on the investment of $7,200,000, at 6 per - 

cent., ----- 432,000 

Wear and tear of the boats, 20 per cent. - - 1,440,000 



Total, $12,238,000 
Add for the flatboats, as above, - - - 1,380,000 



Total annual cost of transportation, $13,618,000 

The rapid increase of this commerce may be seen from 
the following facts: — 

Previous to the adoption of the steamboat navigation, 
say in 1817, the whole commerce, from New Orleans to 
the upper country, was carried in about twenty barges, 
averaging one hundred tons each, and making but one 
trip per year. The number of keelboats employed on 
the Upper Ohio could not have exceeded one hundred 
and fifty, carrying thirty tons each, and making the trip 
from Pittsburgh to Louisville and back in two months, or 
about three voyages in the season. The tonnage of all 
the boats ascending the Ohio and Lower Mississippi was 
then about six thousand five hundred. 

In 1834, the number of steamboats was two hundred 
and thirty, and the tonnage equal to about thirty-nine thou- 
sand tons; and in 1842, the number of boats was four 
hundred and fifty, and their burthen ninety thousand tons. 

In 1832, it was calculated that the whole number of 
persons deriving subsistence from this navigation, inclu- 
ding the crews of steam and flatboats, mechanics and la- 
borers employed in building and repairing boats, wood 
cutters, and persons employed in furnishing, supplying, 
loading, and unloading these boats, was ninety thousand. 
As the number of boats had doubled since that time, the 



WESTERN STEAMBOATS. 169 

number of people directly engaged in and about this 
navigation, in 1842, was not less than one hundred and 
eighty thousand; but who shall place a Ihnit to the num- 
bers who are beneficially interested, in a business which 
distributes its millions of dollars for wood, its millions 
for wages, its millions for provisions, its millions for ma- 
chinery and the labor of mechanics, and which transports 
a commerce whose value can only be computed by hun- 
dreds of millions? 

The whole number of steamboats constructed at Cin- 
cinnati, in 1843, was forty-five; the aggregate amount of 
their tonnage was twelve thousand and thirty-five tons, and 
their cost $705,000; which gives an average of two hun- 
dred and sixty-seven tons for each boat, and about $16,000 
for the cost of each. 

The models of these boats, as well as their finish and 
accommodations, evince a progressive improvement upon, 
the boats of former years. They have more length and 
less draught, and are faster than the last generation, while 
the hulls are more staunch, though they contain less 
weight of timber. The cabins are not so gaudy and ex- 
pensive as those of the old boats, while they are greatly 
superior in comfort and convenience. The average cost 
is about $72 per ton, which is a great reduction from 
former prices. 

All the work of these boats is done at Cincinnati, and 
gives employment to boat builders, carpenters, joiners, en- 
gine makers, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, painters, uphol- 
sterers, cabinet makers, chairmakers, and some other me- 
chanics. 

There were steadily employed at the Cincinnati ship 
yards, during the year 1843, in the heavier portions of 
the work : — 
15 



170 TONNAGE OF WESTERN BOATS. 

Hands at the Boat Yards, - - - 320 

Joiners, _ - . _ 200 

Engine and Foundery men, - - 200 

Painters, - - - - 50 

Total, - - - 770 

Within the same year there were built, at Louisville, 
New Albany and Jeffersonville, thirty- Jfive boats, of seven 
thousand four hundred and six tons, which cost $700,000. 
These boats would cost $20,000 each, would average 
two hundred and eleven tons, and would ccst about $95 
per ton. 

And there were built at Pittsburgh, in the same year, 
twenty-five boats, of four thousand three hundred and 
forty-seven tons, of which the cost is not given. The 
average tonnage of the boats is about one hundred and 
seventy-three tons. 

The aggregate of the boats built in 1843 is nearly as 

follows : — 

Boats. Tons. 

Cincinnati, - - - 45 12,035 

Louisville, New Albany and JefFersonviUe, 35 7,406 

Pittsburgh, - - 25 4,347 

Add for all other places. - - 15 3,000 



Total, - 120 26,788 

The whole tonnage of the Western boats previous to 
1843, being ninety thousand tons, and the annual loss by 
destruction and superannuation being twenty percent,, the 
decrease by the latter cause for 1 843, was eighteen thou- 
sand tons, and the increase twenty-six thousand seven 
hundred and eighty-eight tons, making a net increase of 
eight thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight tons. 

It will be seen, that we have placed the tonnage of our 
Western boats at ninety thousand tons. This was con- 



TONNAGE OF WESTERN BOATS. 171 

sidered to be the real aggregate of the tonnage, when the 
first edition of the Cincinnati memorial was prepared, in 
the winter of 1842 and '43. We have, since that time, 
had access to official returns, published under the sanction 
of Congress, showing the tonnage of the West to have 
been much larger, even at that time, than we stated it to 
be; but as we had based all our calculations on the amount 
stated by us, we have not, in this edition, altered the state- 
ment alluded to, but shall add such additional information 
as we have obtained up to the close of 1843. 

By the official returns, it appears that the whole steam- 
boat tonnage of the United States, on the last day of Sep- 
tember, 1842, was two hundred and eighteen thousand nine 
hundred and ninety-four tons; which may be divided as 
follows, setting down the figures as we find them in the 
returns, and only transposing them so as to arrange them 
under the appropriate heads: 

West. Tons. 

New Orleans, - - - 80,993 

St. Louis, - - - - 14,725 

Cincinnati, - - . 12,025 

Pittsburgh, - - - - 10,107 

Louisville, - - - _ 4,618 

Nashville, - - . - 3,810 



Total, - - - 126,278 

North West. Tom. 

BufFalo, . - - - 8,212 

Detroit, - - - - - 3,296 

Presque Isle, . - - - 2,315 
Oswego, ----- 1,970 

Cuyahoga, - - - - 1,859 



Total, - - - - 17,652 



172 TONNAGE OF THE WEST. 

Other. Tons. 

New York, - . - - 35,260 

Baltimore, - - - - 7,143 

Mobile, .... 6,982 

Philadelphia, .... 4,578 

Charleston, - - - . 3,289 

Newbern, - . - . 2,854 

Perth Amboy, - - - 2,606 

Apalachicola, - - ^ - 1,418 

Boston, - . _ - . 1,362 

Norfolk, .... 1,395 

Wilmington, - - - - 1,212 

Georgetown, .... 1,178 

Newark, ... - 1,120 

Miscellaneous, .... 4,767 



Total, - - - 76,064 

The steamboat tonnage belongs to the internal com- 
merce of this country, as we have no steam vessels engag- 
ed in foreign commerce, except two or three in the Gulf of 
Mexico, Of the whole tv^o hundred and eighteen thousand 
nine hundred and ninety four tons, it appear that tivo-ihirds 
belong to the West; and as a portion of the other tonnage 
is employed on routes leading to the West, and connecting 
with our highways, the commerce of the West may be 
safely stated as amounting to more than two-thirds of the 
commerce of the Union. 

Estimating the number of steamboats from their aver- 
age tonnage, there must be one thousand in the United 
States, of which six hundred belong to the West. 

The table of tonnage above given shows where this vast 
commercial marine is employed. First, on the valley of 
the Mississippi: next at the city of New York, and then 
on the Lakes. From the port of New York there are 
some seventy or eighty steamboats constantly running; 



TONNAGE or THE WEST. 173 

while on the Lakes there are hundreds. In the valley of 
the Mississippi the number of steamboats now employed 
is equal to the whole number of those employed in Eng- 
land proper. This will appear from the following state- 
ment, extracted from McCullough's Gazetteer, of the 
steamboat tonnag^e of Great Britain in 1834: 





Steamships. 


Tonnage. 


England, 


434 


43,877 


Scotland, 


- 105 


13,113 


Ireland, 


84 


17,674 


British dependences,- 


- 49 


8,032 



Total, - 722 82,716 

It appears then, that in 1843, the steamboat tonnage of 
the Mississippi valley exceeded, by forty thousand tons, the 
entire steamboat tonnage of the British Empire. In other 
words, the steamboat tonnage of Great Britain was only 
two-thirds that of the Mississippi valley. The magnitude 
of this fact will be best seen by considering that the entire 
tonnage of the United States is but two-thirds that of 
Great Britain; showing that this proportion is exactly re- 
versed in western steamboat trade. 

Not only is the building of steamboats increasing every 
year, but every 3^ear is opening new channels of trade 
and navigation. In the last year the river Platte was 
navigated by a steamboat for the first time, and it will not 
be long before the Yellow Stone, the Arkansas, Red 
River, and the Missouri, will employ more boats than are 
now floating on the Mississippi. 



174 STEAMBOAT TONNAGE. 



CHAPTER X. 

Western Steamboats — subject continued. 

It would be an endless task to attempt to keep pace with 
the growing- amount of our steamboat tonnage, by contin- 
uing the long list of these facts and estimates from year to 
year. In 1834, we had two hundred and thirty steamboats, 
in 1842, we had four hundred and fifty, in 1843, a rapidly 
swelling commerce, and perhaps a closer estimate raised 
the number to six hundred, and now in 1848, we put them 
down at twelve hundred, repeating the remark, that we 
have always relied on authentic facts for our data, which 
have had leference, of course, to dates some time past, and 
that therefore our figures are probably, in all cases, too 
small. 

The cost of building and of running boats has not 
changed essentially within the last few years. The prices 
of some items haven risen, but others have been reduced, 
so as to leave but little difference in the general results. 

In the construction of the boats there has been a pro- 
gressive and very decided improvement. Their models 
have been changed to suit the exigencies of the naviga- 
tion. The great objects have been to obtain speed and 
capacity for carrying freight, with power to stem the 
heavy currents of our rivers, and the least possible draught 
of water. In all these respects our boats have been im- 
proved from year to year, and are still improving. The 



IMPROVEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION. 175 

most marked changes consist in a great increase in the 
length and decrease in the depth of the boats, adding to 
their speed and lightness of draught. 

Boats are constructed now more than formerly for par- 
ticular trades, and are specially adapted for the purposes 
for which they are intended. Lines of packets have been 
established, between all the more important places, Avhich 
run regularly, and which have attained a commendable 
degree of punctuality in their departures and arrivals. All 
these are comfortable, many of them very fine, and a few 
of them very superior. The large passenger boats, run- 
ning between New Orleans and Vicksburg, St. Louis, and 
Louisville, are inferior to nothing of the kind in any part 
of the world. The cabins are spacious and elegant, the 
state rooms commodious, and the tables equal to the ordi- 
naries of the best hotels, and far superior to those of any 
but the very best. The officers are not only accommo- 
dating, but generally kind and hospitable, treating the pas- 
sengers as their guests, and taking pains to render the 
voyage agreeable. The company on board these boats is 
usually good, and it is an admirable peculiarity in our 
western traveling, that fellow travelers avoid the exclu- 
sive and selfish deportment which is seen elsewhere, and 
mingle freely together, seeking the acquaintance and so- 
ciety of each other, and all contributing to the common 
comfort and amusement. A trip to New Orleans in one 
of our best boats often resembles a party of pleasure, and 
combines in its incidents much variety, and no small de- 
gree of luxury. 

The men of business in the West, and all who are in 
in easy circumstances, travel often and very extensively, 
and are thus very widely acquainted with each other. 
Besides the crowds who go annually to New Orleans 



176 PASSENGER BOATS. 

upon business, there are other crowds who seek to while 
away a few of the weeks or months of the winter, in 
festivity, amid the gay and novel scenes of that busy 
metropolis. Large and cheerful parties thus meet on 
board the steamboats, and, as they must necessarily be 
several days together, they endeavor to accommodate 
themselves to each other, and to pass the time agreeably ; 
and it often happens that the greater portion of the cabin 
passengers form one circle, in which affability and free- 
dom from constraint are chastened by perfect decorum and 
good breeding. Music and dancing are the chief amuse- 
ments; and at night, when the spacious cabin of one of 
our leviathan boats is lighted up, enlivened by the merry 
notes of th3 violin, and filled with well dressed persons, 
it seems more like a floating palace than a mere con- 
veyance for wayfarers. These fine boats are safe as well 
as speedy, making the trip from Louisville or St. Louis to 
New Orleans in four or five days, and the upward voyage 
in six or seven days. 

The mailboats between Louisville and Cincinnati are 
also very fine boats. Messrs. Strader & Gorman, the 
original proprietors of this line, have the merit not only 
of having been the first to establish a regular line of 
packets in the West, but of having carried out their plan 
with eminent success, with profit to themselves, and with 
great advantage to the public. They were the first to 
have fixed hours of departure, and to adhere to them with 
punctuality. Their boats have always been of the best 
class, the accommodations excellent, and the officers skilful 
and obliging; and it is with pleasure that we record the 
fact, so creditable to all concerned, that in more than 
twenty years, during which this line has been in existence, 
no accident has occurred by which the life or limb of a 



PITTSBURGH AND CINCINNATI PACKETS. 177 

passenger has been endangered. This line has lately- 
passed into the hands of other owners, who run a morn- 
ing and an' 'evening line, and under whose management 
the boats have maintained, and we have no doubt will 
continue to maintain, their high character. 

There is also a daily line of packets between Pittsburgh 
and Cincinnati, deserving of the highest commendation. 
There are few boats any where finer than the most of 
those engaged in this line. They are large vessels, with 
fine accommodations, and are well managed. The pro- 
prietors, in a recent advertisement, assert that in the last 
six years they have carried Iwo millions of people, with- 
out injury to their persons, or three hundred and thirty- 
three thousand people annually. The character of the 
persons who make this statement, and the acknowledged 
excellence of their boats, leave no room to doubt its cor- 
rectness, and, from our own observation, we feel no hesi- 
tation in giving implicit faith to it. The New York 
Courier and Enquirer, commenting on this fact, has this 
pointed remark: — 

" What a movement is here of human beings, each 
intent upon his own well being, and acting in obedience 
to his own views of self interest! — what a future is un- 
folded for such a country, so replenished, and with such 
safe and rapid means of intercommunication ! 

" When, too, it is considered that there are various 
other avenues to the Western paradise, each crowded by 
its thousands, and its tens of thousands, one can hardly 
exaggerate the growth of such a country, or the respon- 
sibilities which devolve upon its general government to 
provide, by all adequate and constitutional means, for 
adding to the security of the great avenues and ports 



178 EXPLOSIONS. 

which are thus annually thronged by emigrants and 
travelers. 

" The fact that two millions of persons, to say nothing 
of property, have been transported on the waters that 
connect Pittsburgh with Cincinnati, should be conclusive 
with the general government in favor of the exercise of 
all its legitimate powers to improve the harbors of these 
cities, and the channels of the far descended rivers which 
connect them." 

The boats that ply regularly between St. Louis and 
Louisville, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, are very good, and 
furnish daily opportunities of intercourse between those 
cities, and there are also good boats running regularly 
between all these places and Nashville. 

Without specifying more particularly, we may add, 
that there are boats now running periodically on all the 
tributaries of the Ohio and Mississippi ; and as they are 
now constructed to draw less than twenty inches of water, 
there are few of the rivers that are not accessible to the 
benefits of this wonderful and all pervading invention. 

There have been some terrible explosions on the 
Western waters, attended with a most melancholy destruc- 
tion of life. These accidents have not been frequent 
within the last few years, and we think that the danger ot 
them may be avoided by travelers who exercise an ordinary 
degree of prudence. They are almost invariably the 
result of gross and criminal negligence, and a proof 03 
this is, that they scarcely ever occur on board the best 
boats. In all the cases that have been carefully investi- 
gated, the boilers have been found to be badly constructed, 
or worn out, or there has been a dereliction of duty on 
the part of the engineer or captain. This is now so well 
understood, and public opinion is acting so pointedly on 



EXPLOSION OF THE MOSELLE. 179 

the subject, that steamboat owners are more careful than 
formerly in the selection of officers, and the latter can no 
longer outrage public sentiment by attempting to pass off 
such catastrophes as accidents. We have a class of mas- 
ters of steamboats who are well known, and whose boats 
have never been visited by these calamities, which have 
been confined chiefly to boats and officers that have not 
deserved the confidence of the public. The traveler, 
therefore, who will be careful to select the best boats — 
those which have an established character, or are com- 
manded by men of reputation, will run no more risk of 
life on board our Western boats than on those of any 
other part of the United States. Our boats will be de- 
tained by sandbars, and destroyed by snags, until the atten- 
tion of Congress shall be procured to the improvement of 
our rivers; but these are not the occasions upon which 
life is placed in jeopardy. The explosion of boilers, so 
fatal to passengers, may be prevented, if passengers will 
not patronise bad boats, but carefully select such as have 
obtained and deserved a good reputation. There are 
enough such; the greater portion of our boats are well 
managed, and there is no country in which travelers are 
treated with greater civility, or travel with more safety or 
comfort, than on our Western rivers. 

One of the most fatal catastrophes from explosion, that 
has ever occurred was that of the steamboat Moselle; and 
as we prepared an account of it at the time, we subjoin it, 
together with that of the Oronoko, in order that our rea- 
ders may be able to judge for themselves of the horrors 
of such a scene. 

Explosion of the steamboat Moselle. 
The recent explosion of the steamboat Moselle, at Cin- 



180 EXPLOSION OF THE MOSELLE. 

cinnatij affords a most awful illustration of the danger of 
steam navigation, when conducted by ignorant or careless 
men; and fully sustains the remark made in the preced- 
ing pages, that "the accidents are almost wholly confined 
to insufficient or badly managed boats." 

The Moselle was a new boat, intended to ply regularly 
between Cincinnati and St. Louis. She had made but two 
or three trips, but had already established a high reputa- 
tion for speed; and, as is usual in such cases, those by 
whom she was owned and commanded became ambitious 
to have her rated as a "crack boat," and spared no pains 
to exalt her character. The newspapers noticed the quick 
trips of the Moselle, and passengers chose to embark in this 
boat in preference to others. Her captain was an enter- 
prising young man, without much experience, bent upon 
gaining for his boat, at all hazards, the distinction of being 
the fastest upon the river, and not fully aware, perhaps, of 
the inevitable danger which attended his rash experiment. 

On Wednesday, the 25th of April, between four and 
five o'clock in the afternoon, this shocking catastrophe 
occurred. The boat was crowded with passengers; and, 
as is usually the case on our western rivers, in regard to 
vessels passing westwardly, the largest proportion were 
emigrants. They were mostly deck-passengers, many of 
whom were poor Germans, ignorant of any language but 
their own, and the larger portion consisted of families, 
comprising persons of all ages. Although not a large 
boat, there were eighty-five passengers in the cabin, which 
was a much larger number than could be comfortabl}?' ac- 
commodated; the number of deck passengers is not ex- 
actly known, but is estimated at between one hundred 
and twenty and one hundred and fifty, and the officers and 



EXPLOSION OF THE MOSELLE. 181 

crew amounted to thirty — making in all about two hun- 
dred and sixty souls. 

It was a pleasant afternoon, and the boat, with steam 
raised, delayed at the wharf to increase the number — 
already too great — of her passengers, who continued to 
crowd in, singly, or in companies, all anxious to hurry 
onwards in the first boat, or eager to take passage in the 
fast running Moselle. They were of all conditions — the 
military officer hastening to Florida to take command of 
his regiment — the merchant bound to St. Louis — the youth 
seeking out a field on, which to commence the career of 
life — and the indig-ent emio^rant with his wife and chil- 
dren, already exhausted in purse and spirits, but still push- 
ing onward to the distant frontier. 

On leaving the wharf, the boat ran up the river about 
a mile, to take in some families and freight, and having 
touched at the shore for that purpose, for a few minutes, 
was about to lay her course down the river. The spot 
at which she thus landed was at a suburb of the city, 
called Fulton, and a number of persons had stopped to 
witness her departure, several of whom remarked, from 
the peculiar sound of the steam, that it had been raised to 
an unusual height. The crowd thus attracted — the high 
repute of the Moselle — and certain vague rumors which 
began to circulate, that the captain had determined, at 
every risk, to beat another boat which had just departed — 
all these circumstances gave an unusual eclat to the de- 
parture of this ill-fated vessel. 

The lading completed, the bow of the boat was shoved 
from the shore, when an explosion took place, by which 
the whole of the fore part of the vessel was literally blown 
up. The passengers were unhappily in the most exposed 
positions — on the deck, and particularly on the forward 



182 EXPLOSION OF THE MOSELLE. 

part, sharing the excitement of the spectators on shore, and 
anticipating the pleasure of darting rapidly past the city in 
the swift Moselle. The power of the explosion was unpre- 
cedented in]the history of steam : its effect was like that of a 
mine of gunpowder. All the boilers, four in number, were 
simultaneously burst, the deck was blown into the air, and 
the human beings who crowded it hurried into instant des- 
truction. Fragments of the boilers, and of human bodies, 
were thrown both to the Kentucky and the Ohio shore, 
and as the boat lay near the latter, some of these helpless 
victims must have been throvvn a quarter of a mile. The 
body of Captain Perrin, the master, was found dreadfully 
mangled, on the nearest shore. A man was hurled with 
such force, that his head with half his body penetrated 
the roof of a house, distant more than a hundred yards 
from the boat. Of the number w^ho had crowded this 
beautiful boat a few minutes before, nearly all were hurled 
into the air, or plunged into the water. A few, in the after 
part of the vessel, who were uninjured by the explosion, 
jumped overboard. An eye witness says, that he saw 
sixty or seventy in the water at one time, of whom not a 
dozen reached the shore. 

The news of this awful catastrophe spread rapidly 
through the city, thousands rushed to the spot, and the 
most benevolent aid was promptly extended to the suf- 
ferers — to such, we should rather say, as were within the 
reach of human assistance — for the majority had perished. 

The writer was among those who hastened to the 
neighborhood of the wreck, and witnessed a scene so sad, 
that no language can depict it with fidelity. On the shore 
lay twenty or thirty mangled and still bleeding corpses, 
while others were in the act of being dragged from the 
wreck or the water. There were men carrying away 



EXPLOSION OF THE MOSELLE. 183 

the wounded, and others gathering the trunks, and articles 
of wearing apparel that strewed the beach. 

The survivors of this awful tragedy presented the most 
touching objects of distress. Death had torn asunder the 
most tender ties, but the rupture had been so sudden and vio- 
lent, that as yet none knew certainly who had been taken, 
nor who had been spared. Fathers were inquiring for 
children, children for parents, husbands and wives for 
each other. One man had saved a son, but lost a wife 
and five children. A father, partially deranged, lay with 
a wounded child on one side, a dead daughter on the 
other, and his wife, wounded, at his feet. One gentleman 
sought his wife and children, who were as eagerly seeking 
him in the same crowd — they met, and were re-united. 

A female deck passenger, that had been saved, seemed 
inconsolable for the loss of her relations. To every 
question put to her, she would exclaim, " Oh my father ! 
my mother ! my sisters !" A little boy, about four or five 
years of age, whose head was much bruised, appeared to 
be regardless of his wounds, but cried continually for a 
lost father, while another lad, a little older, was weeping 
for his whole family. 

One venerable looking man wept a wife and five chil- 
dren; another was bereft of nine members of his family. 
A touching display of maternal affection was evinced by 
a lady, who, on being brought to the shore, clasped her 
hands and exclaimed, " Thank God, I am safe !" but, 
instantly recollected herself, ejaculated in a voice of pierc- 
ing agony, " where is my child !" The infant, which had 
been saved, was brought to her, and she fainted at the sight 
of it. 

A public meeting was called in Cincinnati, at which 
the Mayor presided, when the facts of this melancholy 



184 EXPLOSION OF THE MOSELLE. 

occurrence were discussed, and among" other resolutions 
passed, was one deprecating, " the great and increasing 
carelessness in the navigation of steam vessels," and urg- 
ing this subject upon the consideration of Congress. No 
one denied that this sad event, which had filled our city 
with consternation, sj'-mpathy and sorrow, was the result 
of a reckless and criminal inattention to their duty, on 
the part of those having the care of the Moselle, nor did 
any one attempt to palliate their conduct. Committees 
were appointed to seek out the sufferers, and perform the 
various duties which humanity dictated. Through the 
exertions of the gentlemen appointed on this occasion, lists 
were obtained and pubhshed, showing the names of the 
passengers as far as could be obtained, and giving the fol- 
lowing result : — 

Killed, 81 

Badly wounded, - - - 13 

Missing, - - - - - 55 

' Saved, - - . - 117 

266 

As many strangers entered the boat but a few minutes 
before its departure, whose names were not registered, it 
is probable that the whole number of souls on board was 
not less than two hundred and eighty. Of the missing, 
many dead bodies have since been found, but very few 
have been added to the list of saved. The actual number 
of lives lost, therefore, does not vary much from 07ie hun- 
dred and fifty. 

Scarcely had our community time to realize the 
horrors of this explosion, when we received the intelli- 
gence of another, of which we subjoin the newspaper 
account. 



EXPLOSION OP THE ORONOKO. 185 

Explosion of the steamboat Oronoko. 

" On Saturday morning, the ' Oronoko,' of Pittsburgh, 
on her way from New Orleans, collapsed a flue opposite 
Princeton, about one hundred miles above this place, blow- 
ing all between the boiler and the stern of the boat liter- 
ally into the river. The deck was crowded with passen- 
gers, estimated at one hundred, and but few are left sur- 
viving. She was towed to this place on Saturday night, 
with about thirty-five of the wretched sufferers, some 
dead, some lingering in the torments of death, and a few 
who will recover. 

"As soon as she arrived, most of the medical gentlemen 
of the city, with numbers of our active and benevolent 
citizens, repaired to the boat and extended every relief that 
science and humanity could afford to the sufferers. 

" The cabin-floor presented the most heart-rending scene 
we ever witnessed. Some were literally parboiled and 
writhing in the agonies of death, the skin had dropped 
from the flesh of others, and life was ebbing in some from 
inhaling steam, though exhibiting but slight evidence of 
external injury. The groans of some, the silent agony 
of others, the fortitude and firmness with which many 
approached the brink of eternity, presented a scene of 
horror and distress most shocking to behold. 

" Of those who were brought here, eighteen or nineteen 
were buried yesterday. They were decently interred, and 
followed to the grave by a large concourse of our citizens. 
Thirteen were alive last night, but several of these cannot 
possibly survive. 

" We have been unable to obtain the names of those who 
were blown overboard, as well as most of those who were 
buried here yesterday. They were all steerage passen- 

16 



186 EXPLOSION OF THE ORONOKO. 

gers, and many of them went on board at this place, so 
that the clerk could not give us their names. The engi- 
neer of the boat, John Porter, Edward Stowrs, an English- 
man, Mrs. Flanigan and her two children, who started 
from this place in the Oronoko, were among the buried 
yesterday. Mr. Flanigan will recover from his injury. 

" We have understood that seven or eight of those left at 
Princeton have since died. 

" Col. Oliver lost seven or eight of his servants, and re- 
mained at Princeton taking care of two or three others 
that are badly scalded, and who are not expected to sur- 
vive. His celebrated race horse, Joe Kearney, was scalded 
and died; one other severely injured. 

" The cabin was as crowded as the steerage, and had the 
explosion taken place at breakfast, nearly all must have 
perished. ^ 

" Mr. Myers, who was steward last year at the Pinckard 
House, and his child, are thought to be the only cabin pas- 
sengers seriously injured. He also would have escaped 
injury, but when the explosion took place he rushed from 
his state-room into the cabin with his child in his arms, 
and both were scalded; his wife remaining in her room 
and escaped. They remain at Princeton. 

" The ' Oronoko ' is a new boat, and one of the largest 
on the river. It is a most fortunate circumstance that the 
accident occurred about daylight, and that the boat's berths 
are all state-rooms. Nearly all were in bed, and none but 
those who opened their doors and rushed out suffered any 
injury. 

'' Such was the tremendous force of the explosion, that 
the box of the fly wheel, with a portion of the cabin's 
floor, were bursted open, filling the gentlemen's cabin with 
steam. 



EXPLOSION OF THE ORONOKO, 187 

" This awful catastrophe will teach one salutary lesson 
on steamboat traveling — the security afforded by well con- 
structed state rooms. Those of the ' Oronoko' were pro- 
perly ventilated above, and before the steam had entirely 
consumed the atmosphere, there was sufficient time for the 
boat to move out into fresh air. A gentleman and his 
family, in the ladies' cabin, resisted all attempts to burst 
open his door, until the steam had disappeared. He, with 
great presence of mind and judgment, applied his hand 
repeatedly to the aperture for ventilating his room, but 
finding the hot steam rushing in, he declined opening his 
door. The upper layers of atmosphere were soon con- 
sumed, and they had to recline on the floor in order to 
obtain air fit for respiration. 

" There is, we believe, no blame attached to captain 
Crawford, the commander of the boat. He was on the 
hurricane-deck in the discharge of his duty, sending out 
the yawl for passengers, and the boat had been lying-to 
about five minutes. When she was getting under way, 
at the third stroke of the engine, the explosion took place. 
Porter, the engineer, survived a short time, perhaps an 
hour, and declared that he had considered the condition of 
the boat perfectly safe — both as regards the water and. 
steam. The boilers were some six or seven years old, 
having been taken out of the old Michigan, and Porter 
must have been deceived in the amount of steam or the 
strength of the boilers — the latter however, we under- 
stand, aflbrded no evidence of the deficiency. 

" There is a discrepancy between the statements of some 
of the officers and a gentleman who was on the bank of 
the river at the time. The latter says that he thinks no 
steam escaped during the time the boat lay-to^ while some 
of the officers are of a different opinion. 



188 EXPLOSION OF THE OEONOKO. 

"A great many were blown overboard and lost. The 
number of lives lost is between fifty and one hundred." — 
Vicksburg Sentinel. 

There are two features in this extract which often 
characterise similar notices. The one is, the usual asser- 
tion that no blame attached to the commander — which 
may have been true in this case — but which is seldom 
true. The other is the careless exaggeration of the state- 
ment, "blowing all between the boilers and the stern of 
the boat literally into the river," — when the subsequent 
part of the account shows that the cabin was not blown off, 
nor much injured. 



WESTERN COMMERCE. 189 



CHAPTER XL 

Commerce of the Western rivers — estimated value of the imports 
and exports, based on calculations made previous to 1842. 

The matter contained in the following chapter, having 
been prepared for the Cincinnati Memorial of 1842, would 
require to be entirely remodeled to suit the increase which 
has since taken place. We prefer, however, to present 
the figures in their original form, and to make the requi- 
site additions in a subsequent chapter, as, in this mode of 
handling the subject, we shall not only give the facis, but 
exhibit more clearly the increase of our commerce, during 
the five years which have intervened. 

In estimating the value of the property floating upon 
the Ohio and Mississippi, at one time, or within any given 
period, much must be left to conjecture, as under our happy 
form of government no portion of it is subject to entry at 
a custom house, or liable to any official registry, which 
would place on record the accurate statistics of this com- 
merce. But we are not left entirely without data, from, 
which to form an estimate approximating the true amount. 
We know that this trade is carried on by means of four 
hundred and fifty steamboats, of ninety thousand tons bur- 
then, some of which, as the larger boats running to New 
Orleans, from the more distant ports, make from eight to 
fifteen trips per year; the boats carrying the vast trade 
from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Louisville, to and from 



190 IMPORTS INTO NEW ORLEANS. 

St. Louis, make thirty trips, while a great number of boats 
ply between less distant points, and make their trips more 
frequently. If, however, we suppose that the average 
number of trips is twenty, our whole number of boats 
have the capacity to carry one million eight hundred thou- 
sand tons per annum. To this would be added the freights 
of four thousand flatboats, carrying, at an average of 
seventy-five tons each, three hundred thousand tons, and 
bringing the whole annual tonnage to more than two mil- 
lions, if the steamboats always carried full cargoes, which, 
however, is far from being the case. But the fact that 
our boats are capable of carrying that amount of freights, 
and that they find sufficient business to keep them em- 
ployed, forms an important link in the series of facts 
from which we form our estimate. 

The actual amount of imports into New Orleans, by 
the descending trade of the Mississippi, is another impor- 
tant element in this calculation. This we obtain from a 
list published annually in that city, and obtained from the 
daily reports of the wharf masters, of the packages and 
merchandise actually landed. Taking the year from 
September 1, 1841, to August 31, 1842, estimating the 
supposed contents of the packages of which the contents 
are not actually stated or known, and affixing the present 
reduced prices, we find that the imports, as stated in this 
list, amount to $35,764,477 36. 

Another mode of deciding the amount of this trade, is 
by reference to the number of sea vessels arriving at the 
port of New Orleans, which may be ascertained from the 
reports of the custom-house. These are not at this mo- 
ment within the reach of the writer. But we state, on the 
authority of the newspapers of that city, that the shipping 
in port at one time, in December, 1843, amounted to up- 



IMPORTS INTO NEW ORLEANS. 19 i 

wards of six hundred — all of which are employed in car- 
rying away the staples of the West, while their crews 
consume a large amount of products, not included in the 
list of staples. The country which employs six hundred 
ships in bearing off its products, by one outlet, while it 
exports largely in the opposite direction, by the lakes, 
canals, and railroads, can be neither small in extent, nor 
inconsiderable in its wealth, industry, and resources. 

This list, it will be perceived, includes only the more 
important articles of commerce; but those which are not 
embraced in it would amount to a very considerable 
annual sum. It does not include live stock; yet horses, 
cattle, sheep, and hogs are shipped to New Orleans in 
immense numbers; and the amount of poultry, eggs,* 
vegetables, and other provisions, carried to that maiket, 
from the most distant parts of the Mississippi Valley, is 
great beyond the belief of those not conversant with the 
facts. New Orleans, it will be recollected, is situated in 
a southern climate, and in a planting country, where but 
a scanty supply of food is raised for home consumption, 
and it is a seaport at which the number of vessels, congre- 
grated at the business season, is greater perhaps than at 
any port in the Union, to say nothing of the large num- 
ber of steamboats, and other river craft ; and the supplies 
of provisions for that city, and for the shipping and boats 
lying there, are floated down the Mississippi. 

A variety of manufactured articles also, such as ma- 
chinery, furniture, and many fabrics of iron, tin, copper, 
wood, and leather, are not included in the list referred to. 

*It is a fact that one individual at Cincinnati has negotiated 
drafts through the banks to the annual amount of from $20,000 to 
$25,000, for the proceeds of eggs shipped from that place to New- 
Orleans. 



192 INTERIOR COMMERCE OF THE WEST. 

Cincinnati alone manufactures sugar mills for the southern 
market, to the amount of $200,000 per annum, a consid- 
erable portion of which is shipped to New Orleans. 
Nor does that list include any merchandise or produce 
which is landed without the limits of the municipalities, 
which would include the cargoes of many steamboats, 
and a still larger portion of the lading of flatboats. Nei- 
ther does it include shipments of specie, nor the money 
carried in various forms on board of steamboats. We 
arrive then at the conclusion, that the whole annual value 
of the arrivals at New Orleans by the river, from 
descending boats, is not less than fifty millions. After 
making this estimate, w^e are gratified to learn, from an 
authentic source, that an intelligent committee of gentle- 
men at New Orleans, making an estimate recently, from 
the same data, arrived at the same conclusion. 

To this is to be added the trade to that part of the Missis- 
sippi, called " the Coast." The shores of the Mississippi, 
on both sides, from the mouth of the Ohio downwards, re- 
ceive supplies of live stock, provisions, machinery, farming 
implements, cabinet ware, tin w^are, saddlery, and a great 
variety of fabrics, from the more northern states. The 
population thus supplied is not less than one million of 
souls, who receive all the luxuries, and most of the neces- 
saries of life, by way of these rivers. 

A still more important addition is the trade which 
passes from town to town, and from state to state, through- 
out the West, and which is independent of what are termed 
exports or imports. It is diffi.cult to form any adequate 
idea of this trade, but we, who see it going forward, and 
witness the gigantic means required to keep it in operation, 
know that it forms a large item in the estimate of our 
trade and industry. The population of the Western plain 



MA NUFAC TUBES OF THE WEST. 193 

was nearly seven millions at the enumeration made in 
1839 and 1840, for the census of 1840, and the trade to 
which we now allude is that of an enterprising people, 
whose numbers may now be assumed as fully seven mil- 
lions, scattered over a continuous but vast region, embra- 
cing a great diversity of soil, climate and products, and 
affording the materials and facilities for an almost unlim- 
ited interchange of commodities. The furs and lead of 
the northern portion, the iron of Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee, the grain, the salted provisions 
and live stock of the middle region, and the sugar, cotton, 
and tobacco of the south, would alone furnish the elements 
of a vast internal commerce. 

The manufactured articles consumed in the West are 
now made, to a great extent, within our limits, and trans- 
ported to every part of our country, and of course the raw 
materials which are employed in these fabrics enter 
largely into our freights. At Cincinnati alone, by an 
accurate enumeration made for the year 1841, it appears 
that there were ten thousand six hundred and forty-seven 
workmen engaged in mechanical and manufacturing 
employments, and that the annual value of their products 
was $17,432,670. And the amount of provisions, in 
addition to those included in the above estimate, passing 
through our city from the interior, was computed at 
$6,000,000— making, $22,432,670. 

After deducting the consumption of our city, and the ar- 
ticles which are shipped to New Orleans, there will remain 
something over $10,000,000 of manufactured articles 
which are transported to various markets within the 
Western States, and nearly all of which float on our rivers. 

The manufactures of Pittsburgh do not vary greatly in 
amount from those of Cincinnati, but in the $17,000,000 
17 



194 MANUFACTURES OF THE WEST. 

set down for Cincinnati, are included $5^000,000 of pro- 
visions and other articles which find a market at New 
Orleans, and which are included in the estimate of the 
imports to that city, while the labor and capital of Pitts- 
burgh are more largely invested in fabrics of iron, glass, 
&c., which are distributed widely throughout the West. 
The shipments, therefore, from both places, to other parts 
of the West, may be safely stated at $25,000,000. Louis- 
ville and New Albany w^ould furnish $5,000,000 more 
to this head; and if three points on the Ohio furnish 
$30,000,000 of articles to the trade within the Western 
States, it cannot be an unreasonable calculation to allow, 
for the raw materials imported into those places, and for 
the whole of this branch of trade carried on between all 
other places in the West, including St. Louis, $40,000,000 
more, making for the whole of this interior interchange 
of commodities an aggregate of $70,000,000, which, added 
to the $50,000,000 exported through New Orleans, would 
give a grand total of $120,000,000, for the annual amount 
of the productions of the Western States, which are 
freighted upon the Ohio and Mississippi. This calcula- 
tion we find corroborated by that of an intelligent com- 
mittee at St. Louis, which is the more satisfactory, as the 
vastness of the commerce centering at that point, and the 
great extent of country through which the operations of 
her enterprising citizens are carried, affords them the best 
data from which to form a deliberate opinion. 

To the above amount is to be added the value of the 
imports of foreign goods, which are floated to their 
places of destination upon the same waters. And here it 
may be stated with sufficient accuracy for the present 
purpose, that if our exports to New Orleans amount to 
$50,000,000, our returns from the same point will equal 



WESTERN COMMERCE. 195 

that sum, while the imports from the eastern cities, by the 
way of Wheeling, Pittsburgh, and the Lakes, embracing 
a large proportion of all the European goods used in the 
West, will amount to an additional sum of $50,000,000 
per annum, making in all $100,000,000 of imports. 

In making these estimates, we feel satisfied, that if the 
statistics of our trade could be ascertained, they would 
greatly exceed our estimate, and that we may safely as- 
sume the aggregate value of the property floating on our 
great rivers to be $220,000,000 per annum. 

The imports into the United States from foreign na- 
tions, for the year 1841, were $127,916,177, and the ex- 
ports $121,851,803, and when it is recollected that in 
estimating our interior trade we have based some of our 
heaviest items upon data collected three years ago, that all 
our values are calculated at prices greatly reduced, and 
that our whole country, with its trade and production, are 
in a state of rapid progression, it will be readily seen that 
this interior commerce is fully equal to our commerce 
with foreign nations, that its character is equally National) 
•and its protection equally essential to the common benefit 
and advantages of all the States. 

It is also true, that of the foreign goods imported into 
the United States, the West is the most important con- 
sumer, and that besides our direct contribution to the Na- 
tional revenue in the cash paid for lands, we pay a large 
proportion of the imposts on foreign merchandise; and 
that we furnish a larger proportion of the public revenue 
than any other part of the Union, while the proportion of 
the National expenditures made among us has been com- 
paratively trifling. 

We do not make this comparison invidiously, but in 
vinclication of our just rights. We have seen the trea- 



196 WESTERN COMMERCE. 

sures of the American people lavished in bountiful appro- 
priations, for surveys and defences of the coast, for the 
improvement of the harbors, for the erection of light- 
houses, for the building of custom-houses, for astronomical 
observations, and various other purposes, in aid of the 
navigation and commerce of the ocean, not only without 
regret, but with a willingness to contribute freely to what- 
ever may conduce to the general prosperity. But while 
sustaining our just proportion of the expenditures for com- 
mercial purposes, upon one boundary of the Union, and 
for the benefit of one branch of the national wealth and 
enterprise, we claim the appropriation of a like propor- 
tion of the public treasure, for the protection of another 
branch of commerce, equally national, and alike impor- 
tant. We claim it as the equitable right of a numerous 
population, who have built up a great internal empire by 
their own wealth and labors, with little aid from the com- 
mon purse, who defended it during the perils of the war 
with their blood, and are daily enlarging its boundaries 
and resources by their industry, their patriotism, and their 
public spirit. We urge it, as the true policy of a wise 
people, in reference to their own future prosperity. The 
West is the centre of the Union, the citadel of its power, 
the great living fountain, whose boundless resources are 
destined to sustain and enrich the nation. Here will soon 
exist the millions who will govern our vast republic, and 
the treasures resulting from the labors of an energetic 
people, which must circulate through every channel of 
commerce and industry, to the remotest boundaries of our 
dominion, and to every land to which the American flag 
shall find access; and here should the nation lay broad 
and strong the foundations of its future greatness. 

We may fairly refer to the prospective increase of this 



RESOURCES OF THE WEST. 197 

trade, as it is obvious that it must not only be great, but 
beyond the compass of any reasonable calculation. The 
vast amount of unsettled land of the finest quality, and 
the tide of emigration which is rapidly pouring in, leave 
no room to question the speedy growth of the country, or 
to doubt that its agricultural products will be multiplied 
in an increasing ratio. Another great interest is growing 
up among us, which will vastly accelerate this process. 
Already we manufacture largely. Pittsburgh and Cin- 
cinnati, to say nothing of other points, stand prominent 
among the manufacturing towns of the Union; and nature 
has scattered over our land with a profuse munificence, 
all the elementary principles and materials required for 
the sustenance of manufacturing industry. The most im- 
portant of minerals, iron, is found in Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky and Ohio, and doubtless may be found in other 
places, of the most superior quality, and admirably adapted 
to every purpose for which that metal is used. Lead is 
equally abundant. Cotton, hemp, and wool, are among 
our staples. The country abounds in water power. The 
cotton of Mississippi can be delivered at Cincinnati as 
cheaply as at New Orleans, and there is no place in the 
Union where the laborer can be supported with greater 
comfort and economy. The pittance which elsewhere 
will barely procure the necessaries of life, will here spread 
his table with its luxuries. With beef and pork at two 
cents per pound, wheat at seventy cents per bushel, corn 
at twelve and a half cents per bushel, potatoes at twenty- 
five cents per bushel, turkeys at twenty-five cents, chickens 
at eight cents, coal of the finest quality at from six to ten 
cents per bushel, and wood at $1 50 per cord, we must 
take this branch of industry from any country having a 



198 PRODUCTS OF THE WEST. 

more sterile soil and less genial climate. The raw mate- 
rial, the motive power, the provisions are here; the market 
for the manufactured article is here; and the labor will 
come, whenever we say that we are ready to give it em- 
ployment. 

We cannot forbear from quoting some valuable facts, 
which are contained in a late number of Hunt's Maga- 
zine, in which the writer shows the immense amount of 
the agricultural products of the United States — of which 
the West is known to furnish the greatest proportion: — 

" Of the amount of the several species of agricultural 
products yielded by the country, we are furnished with 
full data by the statistical returns, which, although perhaps 
not entirely accurate, present as complete a statement as 
could, under the circumstances, have been furnished. By 
a table, compiled from these returns, it appears that we 
have produced during the year ending the 1st of June, 
1840, the products, a statement of which we here subjoin, 
with their amount. 

' LIVE STOCK. 

Horses and mules, - - - - 4,333,669 

Neat cattle, - - - - 14,871,596 

Sheep, - . - - - - 19,311,374 

Swine, - - - - 26,301,293 

Poultry of all kinds, estimated value, - $9,344,410 

CEREAL GRAINS. 

No. bushels Wheat, - - - 84,823,272 

" Barley, - - - 4,161,504 

« Oats, - - - 123,071,341 

« Rye, - - - - 18,645,567 

« Buckwheat, - - 7,291,743 

Indian Corn, - - - 377,531,875 



PRODUCTS OF THE WEST. 199 



VARIOUS CROPS. 




No. pounds Wool, 


35,802,114 


" Hops, - - - 


- 1,238,502 


Wax, 


628,303 


Bushels Potatoes, - - - 


- 108,298,060 


Tons Hay, 


10,248,108 


Tons Hemp and Flax, 


95,251 


TOBACCO, COTTON, SUGAR, 


&c. 


Pounds Tobacco gathered. 


217,163,319 


« Rice, - . - ■ - 


- 80,841,422 


" Cotton gathered, 


790,479,205 


« Silk Cocoons, 


61,552 


" Sugar made, 


155,100,809 


Cords Wood sold, - - - 


- 5,088,891 


Value of the produce of the Dairy, 


$33,787,008 


" Orchard 


- $7,556,904 


Gallons Wine made. 


124,734 


Value of home made or family goods. 


$29,023,380 



" He also states, as a fact which has escaped the observa- 
tion of many, that the Indian corn raised in Tennessee is 
nearly three times the amount raised in Pennsylvania, 
and more than four times the quantity produced in the 
great state of New York, and yet Tennessee, in the north, 
is hardly looked upon as an agricultural state. 

" Tables are given w^hich show that two-thirds of the 
crop of Indian corn is raised in the slave-holding states — 
and of this quantity but a very small portion is exported. 
It is the great staple for the food of all classes — and for 
beast as well as man. In these states, a comparatively 
small amount of wheat is raised, though the crops of oats 
are large. The great wheat growing states are Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia, though it is 
known they have been greatly gained on the past two 
years by Illinois and Michigan. 



200 PRODUCTS OF THE WEST. 

" The great corn growing states are Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, llL'nois, 
Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee being the greatest. In 
1839, she raised forty-four million nine hundred and 
eighty- six thousand bushels. Tennessee therefore is the 
banner state in corn, Ohio in wheat, and New York in 
oats; while in the aggregate of these three principal 
grains, Ohio is the banner state of the Union — Pennsyl- 
vania rating number five in the list. New England 
stands very low in the scale, in both corn and wheat, and 
not very high up in oats. Massachusetts and Connecticut 
are both below Delaware in their product of wheat and 
corn. 

" The crops of 184.2 are estimated at eight hundred mil- 
lion bushels, the whole of which in price would average 
about the average selling price of corn, or 40 cents per 
bushel; which gives the enormous aggregate of $320,- 
000,000, as the worth of the present year's grain crops, 
exclusive of rye, buckwheat and barley — which, accord- 
ing to the same calculation, is worth about $16,000,000 
more, giving a grand total of $336,000,000 ! ! This is 
indeed a great country, and in nothing greater than its 
agricultural resources, which are but partially enumerated 
above, and which, too, have hardly begun to develop 
themselves." 

" If there is any truth in figures, we have here abundant 
evidence, that agriculture is the paramount interest of the 
country, the source of its commerce, the fountain of its 
wealth. The West is by far the most extensive, fertile, 
and productive part of the Union, and furnishes the most 
valuable portion of these products; the vast amount of 
which corroborate the estimate we have made of the 



PRODUCTS OF THE WEST. 201 

value of our trade. And we add, the further inference ; 
if the products of the nation be so great, how important 
the great central avenues by which they must find a 
market ! 



202 COL. abert's report. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Commerce of the Western rivers continued — Col. Abert's report. 

We presented, in the preceding chapter, some views of 
the West, founded on data collected previous to the year 
1842, and embraced in the Cincinnati Memorial of that 
year. We have now before us a valuable report, " made 
by Lieut. Col. Abert of the bureau of topographical en- 
gineers, in reply to a resolution of the United States 
Senate, January 15, 1847," in which the same subject is 
handled with mu^h ability. It will be perceived that Col. 
Abe^t has adopted the Cincinnati Memorial as the basis 
for a portion of his report, relying upon the facts we pre- 
sent, while he arrives at results somewhat different from 
ours. It is to be recollected that the Memorial of the citi- 
zens of Cincinnati contained the first attempt to form an 
estimate of the aggregate commerce of the West, and that 
it has been succeeded by a number of publications in 
various forms, some of which have been able and instruc- 
tive, and which have elicited many new facts and views. It 
is quite obvious, that our view of a subject so broad, and 
composed of such a multiplicity of elements, none of 
which had been previously collected together, must have 
been defectiv^e. We only aimed at an approximation to 
the truth, and are happy to find that we have been the 
means of inducing others to enter upon the same field of 
usefulness. 



COL. abert's report. 203 

The following remarks from that document will be 
found interesting, and we make no apology for extracting 
so largely, as the reasoning is founded chiefly on data fur- 
nished by ourselves: 

" The commerce of the V)estern rivers^ and its probable 
i?icrease. 

" I have found it extremely difficult to obtain exact in- 
formation on this head. It does not appear to have attracted 
as much and as early attention as the trade of the Lakes, 
or to have had as many engaged in collecting or reporting 
its details — probably on account of its palpable and vast 
extent, which, visible to every observer, was considered 
sufficiently notorious without the formality of record. Cir- 
culars were, however, written to all those whose official 
position or literary reputation induced the belief that they 
could furnish the desired information. But the answers 
have too generally disappointed expectation, and my chief 
reliance is upon the records of our daily and periodical 
journals — upon the matter collected and reported in the 
Cincinnati Memorial for 1842, and other papers of that 
kind. The memorial is the result of a meeting held in 
Cincinnati, for the purpose of addressing Congress "on 
the subject of removing obstructions from the western 
waters." A committee of seventeen highly informed per- 
sons were appointed to draw up the memorial, upon which 
it is evident they bestowed great labor of investigation and 
care of research. 

"From official returns of the Treasury Department, it 
appears that the steamboat tonnage of the western rivers, 
for the year 1842^ was as follows: 



204 COL. abert's report. 

New Orleans, - - - 80,993 

St Louis, . . - - 14,725 

Cincinnati, - - - 12,025 

Pittsburgh, - - - - 10,107 

Louisville, - _ - - 4,618 

Nashville, - - - - 3,810 



Total, - - - 126,278 

and from the same authority, the steam tonnage for 1846, 
amounted two hundred and forty-nine thousand and fifty- 
five. 

" This is given as the entire steam tonnage of the westen 
rivers, as well of that employed on the local or way com- 
merce, as that employed between the different ports and 
New Orleans. 

" There are no official returns of other kinds of tonnage; 
but the Cincinnati Memorial supposes there are four 
thousand boats of other kinds (not steamboats) employed 
on these rivers, which carry on an average seventy-five 
tons each, making three hundred thousand tons. This 
amount added to the steamboat tonnage will give, for the 
year 1842, for the total tonnage of all kinds employed on 
the western rivers, an aggregate of four hundred and 
twenty-six thousand two hundred and seventy-eight tons. 

"The flatboat navigation of these waters is altogether 
a down-stream navigation — the boats at the end of a voyage 
being generally broken up and sold. They are yet, how- 
ever, used to a great extent, as they consume much of the 
spare timber of the country, and furnish a cheap freight. 
It would not, I think, be unreasonable to suppose that two 
scries of these boats are used in a year, and from various 
circumstances connected with them, there can be no doubt 
that they generally carry a full freight. According to this 
last supposition, the amount of produce of all kinds 



COL. abert's report. 205 

carried to market by these boats in one year, is six hun- 
dredthousand tons. 

"The steamboat navigation is of a different character. 
It is repeated as often as the condition of the boat, the sea- 
son of the year, and the state of the waters will admit. 
Taking into consideration these circumstances, and making 
allowance for the reflection that these boats are not always 
loaded to their full capacity, we will suppose that the 
steamboat tonnage is repeated ten times a year, or that 
there are ten trips of the steam tonnage from its landing 
places to New Orleans. This supposition will give, 
for the steamboat freight of a year, one million two hun- 
dred and sixty-two thousand seven hundred and eighty 
tons, or a total of merchandise (exclusive of the way 
trade,) transported on the western rivers for the year 1842 
of one million eight hundred and sixty-two thousand seven 
hundred and eighty tons. 

" The next question is to determine the probable monied 
value of this commerce. For this we have no direct data, 
but have to resort to inference and comparison. It is well 
known that a great portion of the produce of the West is 
of a much greater value per ton than that of the lakes; 
but if to obtain its value it be assumed as of no greater 
value per ton than the commerce of the lakes, we shall 
clearly show, we think, the absence of all efforts to ex- 
aggerate. 

"The total tonnage transported on the lakes has been 
shown to be three million eight hundred and sixty-one 
thousand and eighty-eight tons: but this is a duplicate 
quantity. It exhibits the total amount of exports and im- 
ports at all places, and is, therefore, in all probability, an 
exhibit of double the real amount of tons of merchan- 
side. Assuming this supposition as correct, the nett amount 



206 COL. abert's report. 

of tons of lake goods transported is one million nine hun- 
dred and thirty thousand five hundred and forty-four — and 
as it has been shown that the nett value of these goods 
is $61,914,910, we have for the nett value, per ton, 
$32 07. 

" It has also been shown that the nett tons of merchan- 
dise of the western rivers with New Orleans, exclusive of 
way trade, was, for 1842, one million eight hundred and 
sixty-two thousand seven hundred and eighty tons. Now, 
if we apply to this amount the value of the lake com- 
merce per ton, as just given, we shall have, for the direct 
commerce of the western rivers with New Orleans, an 
amount of $59,739,354. 

" New Orleans being the point at which this commerce 
is concentrated, the returns of that place would merely 
duplicate the commerce; they have, therefore, not been 
used. But these returns would also, from the same rea- 
son, 'be highly corroborative evidence of the amount. 

" Referring to the official returns of the amount of ex- 
ports and imports of New Orleans for the year 1842, we 
find them to be $50,566,903 — a sufficiently adequate co- 
incidence with the river trade, as just given, to sustain the 
probable accuracy of the suppositions which have been 
adopted in reference to that trade, and to justify the amount 
of exports and imports of New Orleans, in being taken 
as an exhibit of the commerce of the western rivers with 
that city. 

For 1842, then, this commerce can be stated at $50,566,903 

In 1846, a statement from the Treasury Department 

makes it - - - - 62,206,719 



Showing an increase, in four years, of - $11,639,810 

or an average annual increase of five and three-fourths per cent. 



I 



COL. abert's report. 207 

" We have as yet spoken only of the direct river com- 
merce, and not of the indirect or way commerce — of that 
immense amount of commodities which is interchanged 
between city and city, town and town, place and place, on 
the western rivers, and .which forms no part of the New 
Orleans commerce, but which may be appropriately des- 
ignated as the coasting commerce of the western rivers. 

•' ' Tiie shores of the Mississippi,' says the Cincinnati 
Memorial, ' on both sides, from the mouth of the Ohio, 
downwards, receive supplies of live stock, provisions, ma- 
chinery, farming implements, cabinet ware, and a great 
variety of fabrics from the more northern states of the 
great valley. 

"'A still more important addition is the trade which 
passes from town to town, and from state to state, through- 
out the West, arid which is independent of what are 
termed exports and imports. It is difficult to form an 
adequate idea of this trade; but we who see it going for- 
ward, and witness the gigantic means required to keep it 
in operation, know that it forms a large item in the esti- 
mate of our trade and industry.' Then, after enumera- 
ting the items and the trade of places upon which its 
judgment is founded, the memorial adopts the conclusion, 
that the aggregate of this way trade, or interchange of 
commodities, is 'seventy millions' in addition 'to the fifty 
millions exported through New Orleans.' 

" Upon the authority of the Cincinnati Memorial, we 
shall, therefore, adopt for the way commerce for the year 
1842, the amount of seventy millions. 

" To bring this amount up to 1846, we will apply to it 
the same average rate of increase, five and three-fourths 
per centj which the direct river commerce has been found 



208 

to experience, and the result will be (for 1846) eighty-six 
million one hundred thousand. 

" From the foregoing exposition, then, the total com" 
merce, in merchandise of all kinds, of the Western rivers, 
can be stated for the year 1846 at (nett value) $148,- 
306,719. 

" This amount should be strictly understood as indica- 
ting the nett value. The floating value cannot be less 
than double this amount (the exports of one place being 
the imports of another) or equal to $296,613,438 for the 
year 1846. 

" The passenger trade of this river is very great. I 
am, however, without any means of stating it except by 
comparison and inference. It is fair, I think, to suppose 
that the passenger trade is confined exclusively to the 
steam tonnage. The steam tonnage of the lake is sixty 
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and the value of 
the passenger trade for that tonnage is stated at $1,250,000. 

" The steam tonnage of the Western rivers is stated, 
for 1842, at one hundred and twenty-six thousand two 
hundred and seventy-eight tons. 

" This tonnage would, therefore, yield in the same pro- 
portion for its passenger trade, an amount of $2,595,108. 
Then, to bring the amount up to 1846. at an average 
yearly rate of five and three-fourths per cent., it will be 
$3,191,982; or, the total commerce of the Western rivers 
is, for the year 1846, $151,498,701. 

" The cost of the steamboat tonnage employed in 
this trade, is stated to be $80 the ton, which 
makes the total cost, $10,102,240 

" Add for the craft employed in the trade, (Cin, 

mem.) 420,000 



" Making the total cost of all the river craft, in 1842, $10,522,240 



COL. abert's report. 209 

" Supposing it to have undergone the same ratio 
of increase five and three-fourths per cent., it 
will amount, in 1846, to - - - $12,942,355 

*' The yearly expense of sustaining this craft, and 
keeping it in activity, is stated by the Cincinnati 
memorial to be, for steam craft, - - $15,039,709 

"Other craft 1,380,000 

$16,419,709 

" Which, at an average increase of five and three- 
fourths per cent., would be, for the year 1846, $20,196,242 

" From the most careful calculation of the hands em- 
ployed in those boats as mariners (not shore employees) 
the steamboats have eight thousand four hundred and 
eighteen hands. All other kinds of craft, tv^elve thou- 
sand. Total, 1842, twenty thousand four hundred and 
eighteen, which, at the increase which has been assumed, 
of five and three-fourths per cent, per year, will amount, 
in 1846, to $25,114. 

"These amounts are, however, too small. They do 
not, in my judgment, exhibit a just value of the commerce 
of the western rivers, the internal or coasting commerce 
of those rivers. The chief error arises from attributing 
to this extensive commerce no greater ratio of increase 
than that which the commerce of New Orleans has ex- 
perienced. A different view will now be taken, in which 
this cause of error will be eliminated. 

" It has been previously shown that, from the reports 
of the Treasury Department, the steam tonnage of the 
western rivers was, for the 1842, $126,278, and for the 
year 1846, $249,055; making an increase in four years 
of one hundred and twenty-two thousand seven hundred 
and seventy-seven tons, or nearly one hundred per cent, 
or an average of twenty-four and three-tenths per cent. 
18 



210 COL. abert's report. 

But as the direct trade with New Orleans did not experi- 
ence, during the same period, a greater average annual 
increase than five and three-fourths per cent., this vast in- 
crease of the steam tonnage of these rivers must be owing 
chiefly to the vast increase of the way or internal river 
commerce. Throwing fractional parts out of considera- 
tion, and deducting for the direct New Orleans trade, these 
facts will prove that the way commerce of the western 
rivers has experienced, since the year 1842, a regular ave- 
rage annual increase of nineteen per cent. 

" Now taking the data of the Cincinnati Memorial as 
correct, namely, that the way commerce of the western 
rivers amounted, in 1842, to $70,000,000, it will, at this 
rate of increase, be, for the year 1846, $123,200,000; add 
to this the trade with New Orleans for the same year, 
namely $62,206,719, and we have a total (exclusive of 
passenger trade) of $185,406,719. 

" If we now treat the passenger trade, in reference to 
the foregoing exposition of steam tonnage, it will justify 
the following results. 

" The steam tonnage of the lakes gave a passenger 
trade of $1,250,000. This tonnage was sixty thousand 
eight hundred and twenty-five, therefore, at the same rates, 
the steam tonnage of the western rivers, which for 1846 
was two hundred and forty-nine thousand and fifty-five 
tons, should give for the passenger trade of that year, an 
amount of $5,118,269; taking, therefore, these three 
items, namely. New Orleans trade, way trade, and pas- 
senger trade, w^e have, for the gross amount for 1846, 
$190,524,988. 

"Our first view of the subject made these items $151,- 
498,701. 

" A third view may be taken, in order to obtain some 



COL. abert's eeport. 211 

accurate expression of the value of the commerce of the 
western rivers. 

"The steamboat tonnage of these rivers, for 1844, has 
been shown to be two hundred and forty-nine thousand 
and fifty-five. This includes the whole tonnage, as well 
that engaged in the New Orleans trade, as that engaged 
in the coasting river trade. But the value of the mer- 
chandise of the two trades differs greatly; that for New 
Orleans being of a much greater value per ton, than that 
of the coasting river trade. Of the New Orleans trade 
an exact value has already been stated, the object will now 
be to determine the value of the coasting river trade. 
Deducting one-fifth from the above tonnage, as the pro- 
portion which can, with propriety, be considered as ex- 
clusively employed in the New Orleans trade, it will leave, 
for the river trade, one hundred and ninety-nine thousand 
two hundred and forty-four tons. Then, supposing this 
tonnage to be as actively employed as the tonnage of the 
lakes, it will give twenty-eight 21.01 trips per ton the 
year, or the transportation of five million six hundred and 
twenty thousand six hundred and seventy three tons per 
year. This, however, should be viewed as a duplicate 
tonnage, the exports of one place being the imports of 
another. The nett amount of transported goods will, 
therefore, be two million eight hundred and ten thousand 
three hundred and thirty-six tons ; of this amount there 
should be added, for the flat and keelboat navigation, six 
hundred thousand tons, making a total of three million 
four hundred and ten thousand three hundred and thirty- 
six tons. 

" It has been previously shown that the value of the 
lake commerce is $32 07 per ton. It will, I presume, 
not be considered unreasonable, to suppose the coasting 



212 COL. abert's report. 

river trade of the western rivers to be of an equal value 
per ton of the lake trade. Now, applying this supposition 
to the above tonnage of goods, we have, for its monied 
value, $109,369,475; add for the New Orleans trade, as 
already estimated, $62,206,719; add for the passenger 
trade, $5,118,269, total, $176,694,463. 

" We have now three expressions for the value of the 
trade of the western rivers with the data of each : 

1st. - - - . $151,498,701 

2d. - - - - - 190,528,988 

3d. . - . - 176,694,463 

" I have already said, and given reasons for so saying, 
that the first is too small. Taking the second and third 
as nearer approximations to truth, and using the mean of 
these two, the amount is $183,609,725. I shall therefore 
assume this mean as a reliable exposition of the commerce 
of the western rivers for the year 1846. I again desire it 
to be understood that the foregoing is an expression of the 
nett value of the trade, free from the duplicating which re- 
sults from the importation of one place, being the expor- 
tation of another. 

" The Cincinnati Memorial represents the population of 
the great valley, a population which can be considered as 
depending upon these rivers as a means of communicating 
with a market, for the year 1842, at six million four hun- 
dred and sixty-one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, 
which at the average increase of population throughout 
the United States of 3.41 per cent., will make the popula- 
tion so situated, for 1846, amount to seven millions three 
hundred and forty -three thousand two hundred and two. 

" I do not make the population as great probably from a 
more rigid definition of the region depending upon the 



COL. ABERTS REPORT. 213 

western rivers as a means of communicating with a 
market. Embracing all of the West which can in my 
judgment be placed in that category, and taking the census 
of 1840 as a guide, or the census by States of a later date, 
Avhere it can be had, I have made out the following results: 

1. Pennsylvania, one-sixth of its population - 287,339 

2. Virginia, one-eight " « - - 154,947 

3. Ohio, (all except ports depending upon the lakes) 796,348 

4. Indiana, ditto « - . - 435,605 

5. Arkansas, all of its population - - 97,574 

6. Louisiana, « « . . 352,411 

7. Mississippi, two-thirds « - - - 250,434 

8. Tennessee, all " - - 829,210 

9. Kentucky, all " - - 779,828 



As per census of 1840 « - - 3,983,696 

To which add for the annual average increase 
of 3.41, in order to bring it to 1846, 815,000 



4,798,696 



10. Illinois, all except parts depending upon the lakes 520,786 

11. Wisconsin, the same, (census of 1845) - 38,819 

12. Missouri, the whole, " " - - 511,937 

13. Iowa, the whole, " « - 81,920 



As per census of 1845, - - - . 1,153,462 

Add for the forgoing ratio for 1 year, to bring it 

up to 1846, - - - - 39,333 



1,192,795 
Now adding the amount previously ascertained, 

of states from the census of 1840, 4,798,760 



And we have the aggregate, - - 5,991,555 

" There is also a portion of Alabama, North Alabama, 
which should be added to the above amount, embracing at 



214 COL. abert's report. 

this time about two hundred thousand inhabitants, making 
as the total population depending upon the Western rivers, 
as a means of communicating with a market, for the year 
1846, six million one hundred and ninetjj'-one thousand 
five hundred and fifty-five. 

" The above result may probably be objected to, on the 
ground that the general average increase throughout the 
United States which has been applied to the census of 
1840, to determine the population of the great valley for 
1846, is too small a ratio for that portion of the country. 
It no doubt is so in reference to the parts of the great val- 
ley, and to recent states of the valley, which, from various 
considerations, have experienced a rapid and great in- 
crease. But much of this increase is rather a change of 
population from one part of the valley to another than an 
actual increase of population to the whole. Yet, however, 
it cannot be doubted that the population of the great val- 
ley has increased at a much greater ratio than that of the 
UnitecJ States generally, and therefore that our calculation 
exhibits less than the real result. In order to get at a 
nearer approximation to the real population for 1846, I 
have taken the relative proportions of the population of 
those states which have had a census for 1835, and then 
of those states of which the census is not later than 1840, 
adding, in order to bring the calculation up to 1845, the 
ratio of increase which each state experienced from 1830 
to 1840, and then adding for one year the average appli- 
cable to the valley states only, I find that the population 
depending upon western rivers as a means of communica- 
ting with a market may be stated, for the year 1846, at six 
million five hundred and seventy-six thousand and twenty 
seven, and that the rate of increase, from 1840 to 1845, 
may be fairly stated to be about five per cent." 



WESTERN COMMERCE. 215 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Commerce of the Western rivers continued — Col. Abert's report — 
subject pursued to the present time. 

While we acknowledge the courtesy extended to our 
pamphlet, in the official report from which we have ex- 
tracted so copiously in the preceding chapter, we think 
the author mistaken, not perhaps in considering our 
amounts too small, but in attributing to us a process, in 
arriving at these results, which we are not conscious of 
having pursued. We are not aware of having adopted a 
ratio of five and a half per cent, for the annual increase of 
the commerce of New Orleans, or of applying that rule 
to the aggregate commerce of the West. That our 
figures were too small is now very obvious, but that those 
of the report of Col. Abert are quite as far below the 
mark, we think equally clear; and there is no doubt that 
such will be the relative character of all fair statistical 
writings in regard to this country, for many years to com e; 
the actual condition of things at any given date, and the 
increase will be found to exceed all previous estimates 
founded on facts, and the latest calculation will arrive 
nearest to the truth, without actually reaching it. 

The imports by the river into New Orleans, for the 
year, commencing September I, 1S41, and ending Sep- 
tember 1, 1842, we estimated at $50,000,000. The 
actual amounts of those imports, the four succeeding 



216 INCREASE OF COMMERCE. 

years, as reported in the New Orleans Prices Current, 
are as follows : — 

1842-3 - - - - $53,728,054 

1843-4 - - . . 60,094,716 

1844-5 - - - - 57,199,122 

1845-6 ... - 77,163,464 

1846-7 - - - - 90,033,256 

Here the whole increase of the last four years is shown 
to be $36,305,202, or $9,076,300 per annum, which 
would beabout seventeen per cent, per annum. In other 
words, the productions and manufactures of the Western 
and South-western states, arriving at New Orleans by 
way of the river, amounted, in the year ending in Sep- 
tember, 1843, to $53,000,000, and in the year ending in 
September, 1847, to $90,000,090, showing an annual 
average increase of about seventeen per cent. 

Instead, therefore, of an annual increase of five and a 
half per cent., we must assume that increase to be something 
like seventeen per cent, and even this ratio will be too 
small unless the calculation be made for short periods, and 
the increase compounded. 

We shall endeavor to show that we are not mistaken 
in this estimate, by presenting an illustration, which, we 
think, affords a striking coincidence, if it be not conclu- 
sive corroborative evidence. We allude to the increase in 
the number of steamboats ; for, as the commerce upon the 
rivers increase, so must ihe tonnage increase, by which it 
is carried on. In 1834, the writer ascertained, from the 
lists kept at the Insurance offices, that the number of steam- 
boats on the western rivers was two hundred and thirty. 
In 1840, from similar data, we reported the number to be 
four hundred and fifty. In 1842, the official reports to 
the government made them six hundred, and now at the 



INCREASE OF COMMERCE. 217 

close of 1847, we assume the number to be eleven hun- 
dred. Now, it appears that in the six years, from 1834 
to 1840, the annual increase was exactly sixteen percent.; 
in the next two years, the yearly increase was seventeen 
per cent; and in the next period of five years it has been 
seventeen per cent. This coincidence is sufficiently stri- 
king for our present purpose, and indicates very fairly the 
growth of our country, and of its business. And we add 
here, that in our inquiries in regard to the growth of par- 
ticular branches of business, in this city, made recently, 
with a view of ascertaining, approximately, the aggregate 
increase of business, we found that the average increase 
would be somewhere between fifteen and twenty per cent, 
per annum. 

Assuming the figures, by which we estimated the an- 
nual value of our commerce in 1842, to have afforded a 
sufficiently close approximation to the truth at that time, 
we are prepared to bring our estimate down to the close 
of the year 1847, in the manner following: 

The direct trade to New Orleans, which we then esti- 
mated at $50,000,000, is now, by the actual returns, 
$90,033,256. 

The interior commerce floating from port to port, not 
including the above item, nor the imports from New Or- 
leans and the eastern cities, was estimated, in 1842, at 
$70,000,000, to which we now add seventeen per cent, 
per annum, for five years, to bring it down to the close of 
1847, and which gives for that item, $125,000,000. 

The St. Louis, report for 1847 gives, for the number of 
steamboats, one thousand one hundred and ninety, and es- 
timates their tonnage at two hundred and ten tons each, 
and their cost at $65 per ton; making the whole value of 
the steamboat tonnage $16,188,561. We arrive at nearly 
19 



218 INCREASE OF COMMERCE. 

the same result, but by a different collocation of facts. We 
shall assume the whole number of steamboats on the Wes- 
tern rivers to be one thousand and one hundred, ave- 
raging one hundred and eighty tons each, and their value 
to be $80 per ton, making the whole value of the tonnage 
to be $16,280,000. 

The imports from New Orleans and the Atlantic cities 
we set down, in 1842, at $100,000,000; and we now add 
seventeen per cent, per annum for five years, which will 
give us for this item, for 1847, $185,000,000. 

From these data we state the value of the commerce float- 
ing on the western rivers to be, per annum, as follows: 

Exports to New Orleans, - - $90,033,256 

Interior trade, - - - 125,000,000 

Value of steamboat tonnage, - - 16,280,000 

do « flat and keel do, - ' - - 525,000 



$231,838,256 
Imports into the West, - - - 185,000,000 



Total, - - - $416,838,256 

This amount is very much larger than the estimate of 
Col. Abert; but it is less than that of the St. Louis report, 
in which "the aggregate value of the commerce annually 
afloat upon the navigable waters of the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi," is stated to be $432,651,240. If either of the 
calculations are faulty, the deficiency will be found to con- 
sist in its falling below the truth. But as both are but ap- 
proximations, we consider them near enough for practical 
purposes, and have no hesitation in assuming the floating 
annual commerce of the West to be worth, in round num- 
bers, $450,000,000. 

We are happy to have our estimate of the value of 
the commerce of our rivers, corroborated by our friend 



COMMERCE OF PITTSBURGH. 219 

Edward D. Mansfield, Esq., one of the ablest and most accu- 
rate of western writers. In a memorial recently prepared 
to Congress, he supposes the whole value of the property- 
shipped on the Mississippi, and branches, including western 
produce shipped to New Orleans, and to the Eastern cities, 
shipments from port to port within the West, and foreign 
merchandise, coin, bullion, and other articles received in 
exchange for our products, to be $500,000,000. 

He gives, as the number of persons traveling as pas- 
sengers on board steamboats, and exposed to the accidents 
of that mode of traveling, sixty-seven thousand five hun- 
dred each three days, which makes one hundred and fifty- 
seven thousand five hundred for a week, and eight million 
one hundred and eight-five thousand for a year. This is in 
addition to thirty-eight thousand of their crews, who are 
continually exposed. 

We shall now proceed to set forth a few disconnected 
facts in relation to our commerce. The following inter- 
esting extract is from a report of T. J. Bigham, Esq., of 
Pittsburgh, to the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, chairm.an of 
the Executive Committee of the Chicago convention. 

" The steamboats belonging to, and built at, the port of 
Pittsburgh. 
" The collector of the port has furnished me the fol- 
lowing statement from his books. The number of steam- 
boats built and enrolled are as follows : 



In 1844, 


44 steamboats. 


Aggregate tonnage. 


7,034 


1845, 


45 « 


(( a 


5,851 


1846, 


53 


(t (t 


8,394 


1847, 


55 


(( (( 


9,353 



197 30,596 

" The whole number of steamboats belonging to the 



220 



COMMERCE OF I'lTTSBURGH. 



port of Pittsburgh, on the 1st of January, 1848, was one 
hundred and nine. The total tonnage of this port, on 
same day, was twenty-eight thousand tons. The cost of 
building and fitting out steamboats on the Western rivers 
averages about $80 per ton. Hence, the origina] cost of 
the tonnage of this port would be twenty-eight thousand 
tons at $80— equal to $2,240,000. 

" The trade of the Ohio river to this port. 

"This river is the great avenue which connects us 
with the consumers of our Pittsburgh manufactured arti- 
cles throughout the valley of the Mississippi. Ours is 
the great workshop — almost every store in that valley 
contains less or more of our fabrics. 

" The annexed schedule from the books of the wharf 
master shows, during the last five years, the number of 
steamboats and other arrivals. The aggregate annual 
tonnage, and the ratio of increase of each year : 



Denomination 
of vessels. 



1843 

Steamboats 
Keel and Flat 

1844 
Steamboats 
Keel and Flat 

1845 
Steamboats 
Keel and Flat 

1846 
Steamboats 
Keel and Flat 

1847 
Steamboats 
Keel and Flat 



1,707 

582 

1,966 
560 

2,169 



165,317 
13,675 

216,236 
12,515 

227,994 
6241 14,180 

2,585 276,572 



Annual 
aggregate of 



634 
3,178 



15,965 
372,465 



7641 20,730 



2,289178,992 
2,526 228,751 
12,793 242,174 
3,219 292,537 
3,942,393,195 



Annual 
increase of 



237 
267" 
426 
723 



49,759 

13,443 

50,363 

100,658 



COI^OIERCE OF PITTSBURGH. 221 

Increase over 1843, - - - - 28 per cent. 

« 1844, ... 6 " 

« « 1845, - - - - 21 « 

« " 1846, - _ - 34 " 

"Pittsburgh is, in every instance, the terminus of the 
voyage to steamboats reaching this port from the Ohio 
river. Hence the arrivals in the above table only show 
the cargoes brought to our wharf. The boat, on her 
departure, again takes a new cargo at least equal in 
amount. The steamboat tonnage, therefore, as shown in 
the above table, to represent fully the ascending and 
descending trade of the Ohio river, during the year 1844, 
should be just twice the amount. The wharf-master's 
report, moreover, is based on the custom house measure- 
ment of steamboats. The steamboats, trading to this port, 
will, on an average, carry one-half beyond their custom 
house measurement. I, however, only allow them one- 
third of an increase, and the account will then stand as 
follows: — 

Steamboat arrivals, 3,178 tonnage, 372,465 

" departures, 3,178 " 372,465 

744,930 
Add one-third over custom house measurement, 248,310 

Flat and keel boat arrivals 764, tonnage, 20,730 

1,013,970 

" This is the entire tonnage of the Ohio river landed at 
this port. About ten million bushels of coal from the 
Monongahela, and about seventy-five million feet of lum- 
ber from the Allegheny river, descending the Ohio annu- 
ally, not included in the above statement." 

The above extract relates to the trade of the Ohio river 
only. The writer then proceeds to set out the trade 



222 COMMERCE OF PITTSBURGH. 

carried on by the Allegheny river, the Monongahela, and 
the canal, and sums up the whole as follows: 

" Tabular statement of the trade of Pittsburgh during 
the year 1847: 





Arrivals. 


Tonnage. 


From the Ohio, 


3,178 


1,013,970 


" " Monongahela, 


- 1,500 


55,000 


" « Allegheny, 


- 118 


23,477 


Steamboat arrivals, 


4,796 


1,092,436 


Flat and keelboat, 


- 2,392 


118,410 


Pennsylvania canal boats. 


4,046 


150,000 



Total, - - 11,134 1,360,846 

" This does not include the coal or lumber trade. The 
circular of the convention asked for a valuation to be fixed 
upon this tonnage. The returns made to me are not of 
such a character as would enable me to estimate the value 
of this tonnage. 

" The number of individuals visiting this city during 
the past year can only be estimated with approximate ac- 
curacy. By the returns of the Monongahela navigation, 
we learn that that company has received toll upon 

Through passengers, - . - 45,825 

Way, 39,777 



Total, - - - - 85,602 

I estimate the travel by the Pennsylvania canal and 
turnpikes from interior of Pennsylvania, 

Through passengers, - - - 40,000 

Way, 30,000 

Total, - - - 70,000 

From the iron and lumber region Allegheny river, 35,000 
Travel by the Ohio river, being at the rate of 250 each 
way, or 500 per day, - - - - 182,500 

Total, - - - - 373,102 



i 



COMMERCE OF CINCINNATI. 223 

" The amount of coal passing through the locks has 
has been as follows : 

Bushels. 
1845 - - - - - 4,605,185 

1846 7,778,911 

1847 9,645,127 

" An amount probably equal to one third has each year 
passed over the dams. This trade has more than doubled 
within the last two years. 

"I would estimate that about one hundred millions of 
feet of lumber has this year descended the Allegheny 
river, and nearly one hundred millions of shingles. Pro- 
bably about one-fourth of this amount was sold in our 
market, the remainder descended the Ohio river." 

This is a good account, as far as it goes, of our dingy 
sister city; it would be an acceptable service to the public 
if the writer, or some other equally competent hand, would 
compile a more comprehensive statement, embracing the 
commerce, manufactures, and entire industry, of that pros- 
perous place. 

At Cincinnati the number of steamboat arrivals in 1847 
was three thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine, and 
the departures the same, making the total of the arrivals 
and departures seven thousand four hundred and fifty- 
eight. ' The arrivals of keel and flatboats were three thou- 
sand three hundred and thirty-six, and the departures, seven 
hundred — in all, four thousand and thirty-six; the latter 
being estimated to carry seventy-five tons each. 

We have no report from St, Louis, for 1 847. The ar- 
rivals for 1846, as stated in their report already quoted, 
were two thousand four hundred and twelve steamboats, 
with four hundred and sixty-seven thousand eight hundred 
and twenty-four tons freight, and the departures being the 



224 COMMERCE OF THE LAKES AND RIVERS. 

same, the whole annual steam tonnage is nine hundred 
and thirty-five thousand six hundred and forty-eight. The 
flatboat arrivals are stated to have been eight hundred and 
one, which at seventy-five, tons each would give sixty 
thousand and seventy-five ; the departures are not reported. 
The trips of the daily packet to Alton are not included. 
To arrive at something like a fair estimate for 1847, we 
add to these figures seventeen per cent, for the increase for 
that year; and we then arrive at the following result, for 
comparative tonnage of these three cities for 1847: 





Steamboats. 


Flat and Keel. 


Tons. 


Pittsburgh, 


6,356 


764 .- 


1,013,970 


St. Louis, 


5,642 


937 


1,095,304 


Cincinnati, 


7,458 


4,036 


1,794,300 



To these desultory facts we shall now add some com- 
parative statements, to show the relative value of the com- 
merce of the lakes and the western rivers. 

According to the report of Col. Abert, the nett monied 
value of the commerce of the lakes and v^^estern rivers, 
including the passenger trade, amounted for the year 
1846, 

Of the lakes to - - - $63,164,910 

Of the western rivers to - 183,609,725 



Aggregate, - - $246,774,635 

The population depending on the lakes and western 
rivers, as means of communicating with a market, was 
estimated, by the same authority, for the year 1846, 

Of the lakes - - - 2,928,925 

Of the western rivers - - 6,576,927 



Aggregate, - " 9,504,952 



APPROPRIATIONS BY CONGRESS. 225 

The number of hands employed in the commerce as 
mariners, exclusive of shore hands, for the same year, 
was said to be, 

For the lakes, - - - 6,972 

For the rivers, - - 25,114 



Aggregate, - - 32,086 

According to the authority of Senate document, No. 44, 
second session, twenty-ninth Congress, the total amounts 
which have been appropriated and expended for lake har- 
bors, and for improvements upon the western rivers, from 
the year 1806, when these improvements by the general 
government commenced, up to and including the last ap- 
propriations of 1845, have been 

For the lake harbors, - - $2,790,500 

For the western rivers, - - 2,758,800 



Aggregate, - - $5,549,300 

From this exhibit it appears that while the commerce 
of the western rivers is three times as great as that of the 
lakes — the population also bearing about the same relative 
proportion — the appropriations to the former have been a 
little larger than to the latter. 

The discrepancy in regard to the amount expended 
relatively upon the foreign commerce of the United States, 
and that of the interior is still greater, for while upwards 
of $13,000,000 have been expended for light houses, 
buoys, beacons, piers and harbors on the Atlantic coast, 
the lakes and rivers, either class having a larger trade 
than the sea coast, have received but $2,500,000 each. 



226 WESTERN CITIES. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Western cities. 

After the view that we have given of the vast extent of 
the western plain, the great magnitude and variety of its 
resources, and the remarkable facilities for commercial in- 
tercourse afforded by its numerous rivers, it maybe almost 
superfluous to remark that its business operations are val- 
uable and widely ramified. Yet it is impossible to attempt 
any thing beyond general observations on this interesting 
subject, as the details would be too numerous to be crowd- 
ed into a single volume. From the number of steamboats 
which we have shown to be in the employ of the mercan- 
tile community, some inference may be drawn, in relation 
to the magnitude of the capital invested ; but any calcula- 
tion, made from these data alone, would fall far short of 
the truth, and would afford an inadequate idea of the va- 
rious resources of a country whose superficial limits are 
estimated by thousands of miles, whose population is 
counted by millions, and whose inhabitants are unsurpass- 
ed in industry, enterprise, and intelligence. The changes 
are so rapid as to mock any attempt to catch the features 
of the landscape, or to follow up the gigantic strides of 
moral and physical improvement. 

Before we proceed to a brief account of our cities and 
larger towns, there a few reflections which occur to us as 
worthy of consideration. 



SPECULATIONS CONCERNING THEM. 227 

The advantages and disadvantages of particular local- 
ities, their relative values, and the prospective growth -of 
the towns founded upon them, or projected, afford subjects 
which have been much discussed, but which have baffled 
the sagacity of the most acute speculators. Town making 
has not generally proved profitable. Of the vast number 
of towns which have been founded, but a small minority 
have prospered, nor do we think that, as a general rule, 
the founders of these have been greatly enriched by their 
prosperity. It requires the united influence of many indi- 
viduals and various interests, and the concurrence of a 
diversity of circumstances, to give impulse to the healthy 
growth of a town ; so that while, on the one hand, it is 
almost impossible to forsee such a combination of events; 
on the other, it is essential to their occurrence, that the 
property which is to form their subject matter should first 
have passed from the few to the many. 

From these and other causes, much of the a priori 
reasoning of those who have founded towns, and specu- 
lated in town lots, has proved fallacious, and while pros- 
perous places of business have sprung up like mushroons — 
at points where such good luck was unforeseen even by 
those most interested. Some of the most promising 
schemes for the founding of large cities have proved utter 
failures. 

We have in our eye a notable instance of this kind. 
At the junction of two noble rivers, upon a spot which, 
as presented upon the map, seems to combine every advan- 
tage, a city of noble dimensions has been laid out. An 
engineer of high reputation has been induced to give the 
sanction of his name to the scheme; plats beautifully exe- 
cuted have been circulated industriously, and immense 
sums of money are supposed to have been collected abroad. 



228 FRENCH TOWNS — CHICAGO. 

for shares in this magnificent city, which, after being 
owned by several successive companies, and puffed for 
many years, is the residence only of frogs and musqui- 
toes, while hundreds of towns and cities have grown up 
within the same period without effort. 

The instances of the disastrous failure of this kind 
of speculation have been numerous; and they have 
occurred at points where the topographical indications — 
the local advantages, as they are usually termed — have 
seemed the most strongly developed. 

The French, when the whole land was at their dis- 
posal, and their choice unlimited, founded Kaskaskia, 
Cahohia, Vincennes, St. Genevieve, Carondelet, and many 
other places, some of which are scarcely known as towns; 
while, on the other hand, Fort Du duesne, Detroit, St. 
Louis and Natchez, have proved to be fortunate selections. 

Chicago presents a most striking instance of rapid 
growth. Twenty years ago, it was a secluded military 
post, occupied by a small garrison, but little known, and 
very seldom visited except by the officers and agents of 
the government. The surrounding country was a wilder- 
ness. Within that time the whole site of the present city 
could have been bought for a sum which ten years after- 
wards would scarcely have paid for a single building lot 
in one of the more eligible situations for business. It is 
now a large city, handsome and well built, with a thriving, 
intelligent, enterprising population. 

The important cities of the West are Pittsburgh, Cin- 
cinnati, Louisville, Nashville and St. Louis — yet there are 
fifty other towns, in a prosperous condition, which are 
considered as rivals of those we have named, by their 
inhabitants, who would doubtless feel indignant, at the 
exclusion of their names from the above list. But it is 



LAKE CITIES. 229 

not our object to draw comparisons; and as we are not 
Avriting a gazetteer, we cannot enumerate the various 
commercial points of this region, nor speak of the advan- 
tages of each. 

The cities above mentioned are those of the first class, 
but a large number of towns are rising rapidly into im- 
portance, and already enjoying a liberal share of the 
trade of the West, We shall not enumerate these, as we 
could not do justice to all, and would be unwilling to 
give offence by omitting any which might be deserving of 
notice. 

Nor do we include the cities of the lakes, whose trade 
and intercourse, flowing naturally through those inland 
seas into the New York canal, mingle but little with the 
commerce which forms the chief subject of this volume. 
Thirty-four years ago, the site now occupied by the beau- 
tiful city of Buffalo was a military encampment, white 
with tents, bristling with bayonets, and animated by mar- 
tial music and the tramp of armed men . A solitary house, 
used as a hotel, was the only building standing upon the 
ground ; a few blackened chimneys marked the places 
where others had stood. The village had been burned by 
British troops and their Indian allies, and the inhabitants 
driven out. The surrounding country was a wilderness. 
And now what a city is there ! The writer saw that 
spot in its state of desolation, but has never visited it since. 

In regard to Cleveland, our information, derived from 
personal inspection, is not much better, having paid jDut 
one short visit to that very attractive spot. The situation, 
on the lake shore, with a fine view of that noble expanse 
of water, is as beautiful as can be imagined, and there is 
a very decided exhibition of good taste in the plan of the 
city, its architecture, and improvements. As a place of 



230 LAKE COMMERCE. 

business the situation is commanding, and it must necessa- 
rily become a great emporium of wealth and commerce. 
Already its trade is vast, and its business connections 
widely extended. 

Detroit, Milwauke, and Chicago are finely situated, 
and very flourishing cities. The first was one of the 
earliest French potss, and has been the scene of many 
events of historical interest ; but the two last have sprung 
up within a few years. The growth of Chicago has been 
wonderful. All these are now fine cities, full of business, 
and not deficient in wealth. 

We do not profess to treat in detail of the region of 
the lakes, or of the thriving and beautiful cities which 
now adorn the shores of those inland seas; for although 
they belong to the West, yet our work is confined chiefly 
to that part of it, the commerce of which flows through 
the Mississippi. Having received, however, a very 
concise and valuable report of the trade of Michigan, 
made by Messrs. J. R. Williams and D. A. Noble, 
to assist the general committee of the Chicago convention 
in preparing their memorial to Congress, which contains 
a great variety of useful information, we copy it from 
the Detroit Daily Advertiser. We could not in any other 
form exhibit the products and trade of that region in so 
few words. 

Tonnage of Detroit. 

Tonnage of 38 steamboats enrolled at the custom- 
house, Detroit, . - - . 10,941 50-95 

Tonnage of 5 propellers enrolled at the custom- 
house, Detroit, - - - - 1,211 64-95 



Total tons enrolled steam vessels, - - 12,153 24-95 



LAKE COMMERCE. 231 

Tonnage of 120 sail vessels enrolled at the custom- 
house Detroit, - - - - 15,809 73-95 
Licensed, _ - _ _ - 750 



Total tons enrolled and licensed sail vessels, - 16,559 73-95 

Total tonnage belonging to Detroit district, - 27,963 4-95 

Tonnage of 8 steamboats building within Detroit 

district, . . - - 6,582 

Tonnage of 7 sail vessels, - - 600 7,182 

Total tons of all classes of enrolled and building 

ing vessels, - - - - - 35,145 4-95 

Total valuation of the same, - - - $1,757,250 

No. of men employed, - - , - 1,931 

American vessels entered and cleared from the port of Detroit. 



Steamboats entered 


822 


Steamboats cleared 


- 957 


Propellers « 


- Ill 


Propellers " 


108 


Brigs " 


100 


Brigs « 


- 97 


Schooners " 


- 243 


Schooners " 


357 


Sloops & barges" 


597 


Sloops & barges " 


- 600 


Total entries 


1,873 


Total clearances - 


2,119 



American vessels entered and cleared, passing to other ports. 
Entered, - - 1,857 Cleared, - - 1,822 

British vessels entered, - 238 British vessels cleared, - 236 

Total entries, 3,968 Total clearances, 4,177 

Abstract of exports from the port of Detroit during the year 1847. 
935 tons ashes, - . - - $66,450 00 

329 bbls. beef, 3,290 00 

4,860 bush, cranberries, - - - 4,860 00 

614,707 bbls. flour, - - . - 3,073,535 00 

8,286 bbls. fish, - - - - 49,716 00 

23,916 lbs. ham, ----- 2,391 60 

5,795 120-1000 M feet lumber, - - 57,951 20 

16,764 bush, oats, ----- 4,191 00 

1,582 bbls. pork, - - - - 18,984 00 

749 638-1000 M staves, - - - - 10,486 00 

203,055 bush, wheat, - - - - 203,055 00 

760,616 lbs. wool, - - - - 167,335 52 



232 LAKE COMMERCE. 

659 chairs, - - - - - 495 00 

98,281 lbs. rags, 2,948 43 

430 boxes candles, - - . - 2,687 50 

210 « soap - - - - - 525 00 

122 bbls. oil, ----- 2,562 00 

79,938 lbs. furs, -. - - . 40,895 20 

183 packs deer-skin, - - - - 1,830 00 

6,454 lbs. beeswax, - - - - 1,807 12 

14,088 bush, corn, - - - - - 5,635 20 

648 bbls. grass-seed, - - - - 3,402 00 

4,030 bbls. corn-meal. - - - - 10,075 00 

50,571 lbs. butter, - - - - 5,057 10 

144,657 lbs. hides, - - . - - - 7,232 85 

29,118 lbs. lard, - - - - - 2,038 26 

18,229 lbs. leather, - - - - 2,822 00 

2,452 M shingles, - - - - 6,130 00 

844 bbls. beans, - - - - 2,532 00 

1,608 casks highwines, - - - 19,296 00 

105 tubs, - - - . . 105 00 

613 pails, - - - - - 128 60 

464 bush, potatoes, - - - - 232 00 

60,206 lbs. grind-stones, - - - - 301 03 

89,500 lbs. starch, . - . . 4,475 00 

1,151 bbls. whiskey, - - - - 8,632 50 

960 rakes, ----- 96 00 

536 pork bbls., - - - - 536 00 

18,308 lbs. castings, - - - - - 732 32 

200 lbs. feathers, - - - - 50 00 

40 bbls. buckwheat flour, - - - - 100 00 

201 bush, peas, 201 00 

14,898 brooms, - . - - 1,489 80 

30,000 straw hats, - - . - 12,000 00 

41 bbls. apples, - - - - 41 00 
718 bush, dried apples, - - - - 502 60 
298 bundles sheep pelts, - - - 1,480 00 
600 lbs. mustard seed, - - - - 60 60 

6 bbls. flax seed, - - - - 18 00 

10 tons of hay, - - - - - 100 00 

2,400 dozen eggs, - - - - 240 00 



LAKE COMMERCE. 233 

29 casks saleratus, - - - - 725 00 

232 casks oil cake, - . - - - 696 03 

25,013 lbs. scrap iron, - - - - 250 00 

85,929 lbs. merchandise, - - - . 8,592 90 

8,348 lbs. peppermint oil, - - - ■ 15,272 00 

200 hogs, - - - - - 600 00 

200 boxes glass, - - - - - 400 00 

9,000 bbls. beer, 45,000 03 

5 bbls. clover seed, - - - - 45 00 



Total, - - - $3,883,318 63 

Imports at the port of Detroit for the year 1847. 

31,609,698 lbs. merchandise, - - - $3,941,212 25 

2,831 tons coal, - - - . 14,155 00 

22,743 bbls. salt, - - . - 28,428 00 

2,392 bbls. apples, - - - - 2,392 00 

20 tons grind-stones, - - - 1,954 00 

328 tons plaster, - - . - 3,280 00 

1,129 bbls. whiskey, - - - - 9,034 00 

300 bbls. cider, - - - - 600 00 

281 casks water-lime, - - - - 843 00 

2,324 bags salt, - - - - 588 50 

2,354 empty fish barrels, - - - 1,177 00 

632 bbls. pork, - . - . 6,320 00 

116 bbls. dried fruit, - - - - 576 00 



Total, - - - $4,020,559 75 

Exports from the port of Monroe during the year 1847. 

156,829 bbls. flour, - - . . $784,145 00 

222,596 bush, wheat, - - . - 222,596 00 

2,973 bush, corn, - . - - 1^486 50 

2,983 bush, oats, - - - - - 765 75 

180 bush, rye, - - - - - 112 50 

84 casks beans, - - - - 210 00 

1,000 bbls. beef, - - - - . 8,000 00 

1,197 bbls. pork, - - - - 14,364 00 

27,668 lbs. butter, - - - - 2,766 80 

13,031 lbs. lard, 1,142 48 

2,630 lbs. tallow, - - _ _ 263 00 

4201^ tons ashes, - - - , 31,518 75 
20 



234 LAKE COMMEKCE. 

328 casks highwines, - . - - 3,936 00 

414 bbls. cranberries, - - - - 1,242 00 

182 bbls. timothy-seed, -. - - - 819 00 

153,400 lbs. wool, - - - . - 33,748 00 

25,800 lbs. rags, . - - - - 774 00 

2,400 straw hats, - - - - - 480 00 

20 packs furs, ----- 2,000 00 

252 bundles skins, - - - > 5,040 00 
3,812 hides, ------ 11,436 00 

49 tons shorts, - - - - 245 00 

128,529 lbs. furniture, - . - - 6,426 45 

28,670 lbs. merchandise, - - - - 4,279 35 

1,800 lbs. ginseng, - - - - 540 00 

90 bbls. starch, - - - . 1,080 00 

20 bbls. cider, 60 00 

Total, 

Imports at the port of Monroe in the year 1847. 
5,975,627 lbs. merchandise, 
138,938 lbs. furniture, 
471,599 lbs. iron and steel, 
165,363 lbs. stoves and castings, 
41,287 lbs. leather, 
29,000 lbs. mill and grind-stones, - 
130 tons coal, - - - 

23 tons pig-iron, 
marble, _ - - . 

6,316 gallons stone- ware, - 

24 wagons, ' - - 
3 threshing-machines, - 

112 bales oakum, - - . 

9,237 bbls. salt, - 
627 bbls. apples, - - - 

78,105 lbs. nails, - 

62 bbls. cider, - - - 

269 bbls. beer. - 

Total, - ■ - - - $817,012 81 



- $1,139,476 58 


ir 1847. 


$746,953 37 


6,946 90 


23,579 95 


- 6,614 76 


6,193 05 


290 00 


520 00 


690 GO 


2,000 00 


- 505 28 


1,440 00 


- 750 00 


560 00 


13,853 50 


1,254 00 


- 3,124 00 


124 00 


- 1,614 00 



LAKE COMMERCE. 235 

Exports at the port of Trenton during the year 1847. 
1,600 cords fire-wood, - - - - $1,600 00 

312,000 feet lumber, . - - - 

170 dry hides, - - - - 

1,000 lbs. wool, ----- 
500 bbls. flour, - - - - 

300 bush, barley, - - - - 

500 bush, oats, 

Total, - - - - $8,425 00 

Imports at the port of Trenton during the year 1847. 
Merchandise, - - - - - $6,000 00 

Exports from the port of Brest during the year 1847. 

400 M feet black walnut, - - - $4,800 00 

200 M W. I. staves, - - - - 3,600 00 

25 M cubic feet oak timber, - - - - 3,600 00 



3,120 00 


510 00 


220 00 


2,750 00 


100 00 


125 00 



Total, - - - . $12,000 00 

List of exports at St. Joseph, Michigan, in the year 1840, 

135,843 bbls. flour, - - - - $606,293 50 

150,617 bush, wheat, . - - - 112,962 75 

5,948 bush, corn, - - - - 1,843 88 

1,970 bush, oats, - - - - 492 50 

3,930 bbls. corn meal, - - - - 7,860 00 

941 bbls. bulk, sundries, - - - 1,882 00 

2,058 bbls. pork, - - - - 24,696 00 

3,177 casks highwines, - - - - 31,770 00 

186 casks pot and pearl ashes, - - 3,255 00 

20 casks linseed oil, - - - - 500 00 

23 casks lard, 276 00 

27 bbls. cranberries, - - - - 81 00 

66 firkins butter, - - - - 660 00 

481 bbls. peaches, - - - - 2,405 00 

12 hhds. tobacco, - - - - 480 00 

1,280 bush, potatoes, - - - - - 320 00 

1,150 lbs. maple sugar, - - - - 92 00 

15,400 lbs. wool, - - - . 3,080 00 

15 sacks rags, - - - - 120 00 

250 empty bbls., - - - - - 250 00 



236 LAKE COMMERCE. 

723 dry hides, - - 

59 packs furs, . - _ 

226 tons pig iron, _ _ . 

159 ploughs, - _ ■ 

1,355 M feet lumber, - - - 

470 M shingles, 

8 M hoop poles, - . - 

15 M staves, - - - - 

5,851 cords fire wood, - - 

Supplies furnished vessels, - 

Total, - - - - $833,917 38 

Imports at the port of St. Joseph, Michigan, in the year 1847. 

3,670,765 lbs. merchandise of all kinds, - $504,076 50 

4,748 bbls. salt, _ . . - 7,122 00 

193 tons coal, - _ - . 1,544 00 

103 water lime, - - - - 309 00 

801 bbls. household effects, - - - 4,005 00 



2,349 75 


2,360 00 


6,780 00 


1,033 50 


9,483 00 


- 1,175 00 


48 00 


90 00 


8,776 50 


- 2,500 00 



Total, 


$517,056 50 


Exports from the port of Grand Haven in 


the year 1847. 


24,798,000 feet lumber. 


$148,788 00 


12,^82 M shingles, - 


25,544 00 


450 cords wood, - _ _ 


675 00 


460 cords shingle bolts, 


3,680 00 


44 pine spars, - _ _ 


1,320 00 


120 M feet squared timber, 


6,200 


220 M staves. 


1,760 00 


4,500 cedar posts, _ - _ 


270 00 


330 cords hemlock bark, - 


1,650 00 


4,000 bundles laths. 


- 1,200 00 


31 bbls. maple sugar, 


775 00 


53 packs furs, - - - 


- 8,000 00 


17 tons pot ashes. 


1,428 00 


350 doz. pails, - - - 


1,050 00 


5,800 bbls. flour. 


29,000 00 


25,400 bush, wheat, - 


22,225 00 


140 bush, beans, - - - 


140 


5 tons paper rags, 


150 OO 


41 bbls. pork. 


491 0" 



- 3,300 00 


480 00 


- 600 00 


100 00 


6,000 00 


45 00 


187 00 



LAKE COMMERCE. 237 

2,200 bbls. plaster, - - 

1,600 lbs. wool, 

300 smoked deer skins, - 
1,000 lbs. saleratus, . - - 

20,000 lbs. leather, - 

9 bbls. grass seed, - - - 

500 bush, potatoes, 

Total, - - - $265,058 00 

Imports at the port of Grand Haven, 1 847. 
Merchandise, ----- $180,000 00 
Household effects and family implements, - 40,000 00 

Total, - - - $220,000 00 

Exports from the Kalamazoo and Black rivers for the year 1847. 

6,000,000 feet lumber, - - - . $36,000 00 

1,000,000 shingles, - - . . 2,000 00 

500,000 staves, - - - - - 2,000 00 

1,000,000 lath, . . - - . 2,000 00 

100,000 feet timber, - - - - 700 00 

1,150 cords wood, - - _ _ 1,437 QO 

400 cords bark, - - - - 1,600 00 

4,000 bbls. flour, . - . - 18,000 00 

150,000 leather— to Chicago and Milwaukee, - 30,000 00 

100 bbls. white fish, - - - - 500 00 

Maple sugar, Indian goods, cranberries, 

furs, masts, &c., - - - 6,500 00 



Total, - - - $100,737 50 

Imports at the Kalamazoo and Black rivers for 1847. 
Merchandise and hides, principally from Chicago 

and Milwaukee, - - _ - $60,000 00 

Exports from all Ports and Landings between Grand Haven and 

Mackinaw, and from Little Bay de Noquet. 

5,000,000 feet lumber, - - - $30,000 00 

1,000,000 shingles, - - - . 2,000 00 

10,000 cords wood, - - - 15,750 00 

furs and peltries, - - - 10,500 00 

Total, - - - $58,250 00 



238 LAKE COMMERCE. 

Imports at all Ports and Landings between Grand Haven and 

Mackinaw, and Little Bay de Noquet. 
Merchandise, principally from Milwaukee and Chicago, 

$45,000 00 
Exports from the port of Saginaw, in the year 1847. 
98 pack of furs, - - - - 

1,000 bbls. fish, 

6 packs smoked fur skins, 
2,494 bush, corn, - - - - 

74 bush, rye, _ - _ , 

269 bush, cranberries, 
22 mococks maple sugar, 
500 bbls. flour, - - . - 

18 bbls. pork, 
1,159 M shingles, - - - - 

3,500 M lumber, - - 

2 tons pot ash, - - - - 

Total, - - - $45,702 75 
Imports at the Port of Saginaw in the year 1847. 
15,000 lbs. merchandise, - - - $15,000 00 
household effects and implements of agricul- 
ture, 3,000 00 



$9,800 00 


4,500 00 


300 00 


935 00 


37 00 


273 75 


88 00 


2,500 00 


186 00 


2,318 00 


24,616 00 


150 00 



$18,000 00 
Exports from Mackinaw and Sie. Marie during the year 1847. 
22,500 bbls. fish, - - - - $112,700 00 

48,858 lbs. maple sugar, - - - 3,000 00 

14,200 cords wood, - - - 32,000 00 

furs, ----- 12,524 GO 

1,784,805 lbs. copper ore, - - - 178,200 00 



Total, - - - $338,424 GO 

Imports at Mackinaw and Ste. Marie, 1847. 
merchandise, l" " - " $275,000 00 

6,000 bbls. salt, ----- 10,000 00 



Total, - - - $285,000 00 

N. B. — Large importations are made from Detroit and other 
ports into the Copper regions, which do not appear in this state- 
ment. 



LAKE COMMERCE. 239 

Exports from Port Huron and Lexington in the year 1847. 
13,000 M feet lumber, - - - $108,000 00 

2,300 M lath, 6,900 00 

5,000,000 feet saw logs, - - - 25,000 00 

7,000 M shingles, _ . - - 14,000 00 

30b'cords shingle bolts, - - - 1,500 00 

500 all ft lumber, - - - - 4,000 00 



$53,200 00 


1,540 00 


900 00 


2,000 00 


300 00 


1,380 00 



Total, - - - - $159,400 00 

Imports at Port Huron and Lexington in the year 1847. 
Merchandise of all grades, . - - .^ - $100,000 00 

Exports from Port St. Clair during the year 1847. 
6,650 M feet pine lumber, _ _ _ 

770 M shingles, - . . - 

300 M lath, ■ 

leather, - - _ . 

tin, manufactures of, - - 

6,000 lbs. wool, - - - 

$59,320 00 
Imports at Port of St. Clair in the year 1847. 
Merchandise, ----- 30,000 00 

Exports from the Port of Newport during the year 1847. 

1,145 M feet lumber, 

75 M lath, - - - - 

2,041 cords fire wood, - - - 

furs and peltries, 
leather, - _ - 

10 tons pressed hay, - _ _ 

750 bush, oats, - _ _ , 

75 bush. corn, - - - - 

25bbls. fish, - - . . 

400 lbs. wool, - - . - 

Total, - - - $14,772 00 

Imports at the Port of Newport in the year 1847. 
Merchandise, - - . - . $20,000 00 



$9,160 00 


375 00 


3,061 50 


1,000 00 


600 00 


120 00 


187 50 


30 00 


150 00 


88 00 



240 LAKE COMMERCE. 

Exports from the Port of Algonac during the year 1847. 
4,157 M feet of lumber, - - - $35,695 00 

1,300 cords firewood, .... i,625 00 



Total, 


$37,320 00 


Imports at the Port of Algonac during the year 1847. 


Merchandise, .... 


- $15,000 00 


Exports from Mt. Clemens during the year 


1847, 


15,000 bbls. flour, ... - 


$75,000 00 


2,000 bbls. corn meal, 


- 4,200 00 


3,000 bbls. corn, - - - . 


1,200 00 


3,200 bbls. oats, 


800 00 


425 casks pearl ashes, « - _ 


12,750 00 


300 brls. whisky, 


1,800 00 


30,000 lbs. wool, - . - - 


7,500 00 


10,000 lbs. butter, - - - 


- 1,100 00 


2,194 boxes glass, - - - 


4.936 00 


10,000 straw hats, 


- 2,500 00 


400,000 sawed staves, - . . 


10,000 00 


1,450,000 rough staves, . _ _ 


20,300 00 


980,000 feet pine lumber. 


9,800 00 


150,000 feet oak, white wood and ash lumber, 


1,050 00 


100,000 feet square timber. 


600 00 


2,000 cords wood, 


2,000 00 


20 brls. grass seed, - - - • 


75 00 


80 brls. apples, - 


100 00 


800 patent pumps, - - - 


- 8,000 00 



Total, - - - . $163,711 00 

Imports at Mt. Clemens during the year 1847. 

1,210,000 lbs. merchandise, - - - 121,000 00 

800 bbls. salt, - - . - i,400 00 

400 bbls. plaster, ^ - - - 800 00 

Total, - - - $123,200 00 



LAKE COMMERCE. 



241 



Detroit, 

Monroe, 

Trenton, 

Brest, 

St. Joseph, 

Grand Haven, 

Kalamazoo and Black Rivers, 

Ports north of Grand Haven, 

Saginaw, 

Mackinaw and Ste. Marie, 

Port Huron and Lexington, 

St. Clair, 

Newport, 

Algonac, 

Mt. Clemens, 



Recapitulation. 

Exports. 

$3,883,318 63 

1,139,476 58 

8,425 00 

12,000 00 

833,917 38 

265,058 00 

100,737 50 

58,250 00 

45,702 75 

338,424 00 

159,400 00 

59,320 00 

14,772 00 

37,320 00 

163,711 00 



$7,110,832 84 
Iron and stock imported for the railroads; specie 
of emigrants, and valuable goods and property 
brought in as baggage, and by express. 



Impcrts. 
$4,020,559 75 
817,012 81 
6,000 00 

517,056 50 

220,000 00 

60,000 00 

45,000 00 

18,000 00 

285,000 00 

100,000 00 

30,000 00 

20,000 00 

15,000 00 

123,200 00 

$6,276,829 06 



Exports, - 
Imports, 

Aggregate commerce. 



1,000,000 00 
$7,276,829 06 

$7,119,832 84 
7,276,829 06 

$14,396,661 90 " 



Value and Quantities of Exports of the Products of Michigan, ex- 
ported from the State for the year 1847. 



Flour, - - 

Wheat, - 
Corn meal. 

Corn, oats, rye and barley. 
Copper ore, 
Lumber, 
Shingles, 

Staves, timber, lath, spars, &c, 
21 



Quantises. 
933,179 bbls. 
- 601,668 bush. 
10,060 bbls. 
55,300 bush. 
1,783,805 lbs. 
73,842,000 feet 
26,633,000 



Valre. 

$4,591,223 00 

559,838 75 

22,135 00 

17,950 00 

178,200 00 

520,864 00 

55,707 00 

125,000 00 



242 



LAKE COMMERCE. 



Cluantities. Value. 
Wood, - - ". 43,042 cords 69,463 00 
Patent pumps, - - 800 8,000 00 
Wool, - - - 968,416 lbs. 213,851 50 
Furs, - - 241,015 lbs. 92,119 20 
Leather, - - - 225,562 lbs. 41,422 90 
Hides, - - - 426,957 lbs. 21,528 60 
Ashes — pots and pearls, - 1,625 tons 128,30175 
Fish, - . , . 31,911 bbls. 172,066 00 
Pork, - . - 4,896 bbls. 58,721 00 
Beef, - - - - 1,329 bbls. 11,290 00 
High wines and whiskey, • 6,564 casks 65,434 00 
Beer, . . - . 9,000 casks 45,000 00 
Peppermint oil, - - 8,348 lbs. 15,272 00 
Straw hats, - - - 42,898 14,980 00 
Butter, - - - 94,839 lbs. 9,583 90 
Starch, glass, lard, linseed oil, grass seed, plas- 
ter, and all other artices, « - 81 ,881 24 

Total, - - - $7,119,832 84 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 243 



CHAPTER XV. 

Western cities — manufactures. 

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are the most important man- 
facturing towns. At these places, chiefly, steamboats are 
built, and engines made for a variety of purposes. Some 
idea of the vast amount of machinery manufactured at 
those points may be formed from the facts, that steam 
mills for grinding wheat are now becoming scattered over 
the whole West — that steam machinery is used very gen- 
erally in the preparation of cotton and sugar — and that it 
is rapidly taking the place of water and horse power, in 
various branches of manufacture. At these places are 
also made almost all the heavy articles which are fabri- 
cated from iron. From their work shops the vast regions, 
which include a dozen states, are supplied with wagons, 
carts, ploughs, harness, and all farming implements — 
with chairs and cabinet work of every description — with 
tin ware — with printing presses and types — with saddlery, 
shoes, and hats — with a large amount of books — and with 
a variety of other articles. 

In the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, 
but little is manufactured, because the slaves, who are the 
only laborers, do not possess the kind of ingenuity neces- 
sary to make them valuable mechanics. In Kentucky 
there are manufactories of hempen bagging, tobacco, and 
whisky, and in Tennessee are valuable iron works. Fur 



244 WHEELING. 

ther south the industry of the several states is almost en- 
tirely devoted to the production of cotton and sugar ; and the 
vast supplies of manufactured articles needed for a wealthy, 
energetic and highly refined community are drawn from 
more northern latitudes. They import all their machinery, 
their tools, their furniture, and a large portion of all they 
wear or eat. Of these immense supplies Pittsburgh and 
Cincinnati furnish the greater portion — but not the whole. 
The country lying around the head of the Ohio, of which 
Pittsburgh may be considered as the centre, and the com- 
mercial metropolis, possesses an incalculable amount of 
the facilities for manufacturing, such as timber, coal, water 
power, and raw materials, while it occupies a command- 
ing position at the head of navigation. Brownsville, 
Williamsport, Elizabethtown, Economy, Beaver, Steuben- 
ville, and a number of other towns, are actively engaged 
in manufactures, and contribute to the wealth of Pitts- 
burgh., 

As we descend the Ohio, the country becomes more 
fertile, and its agricultural products abundant. Wheeling, 
like Pittsburgh, derives its business, partly from manu- 
factures, partly from transportation of merchandise from 
the eastern cities to the west, and partly from commerce. 
Being the point at which the national turnpike intersects 
the Ohio river, much of its importance is derived from 
the daily arrival of passengers by stages and steamboats. 
The average number of stage coaches arriving and 
departing daily, at Wheeling, are as follows: — 

Going eastward daily, - - - 7 

Returning from the east, - - - 7 

Going westward daily, - - _ 3 

Returning from the west, - - - 3 

Going north and north west, - - 3 

Returning from north and north west, - 3 



WHEELING POMEROY. 245 

The average number of passengers, carried by those 
stages throughout the year, is six and a half per stage. 

The total number of stages arriving and departing daily, 
is twenty -four. 

The total number of passengers is one hundred and 
thirty-six per day, or forty-nine thousand six hundred and 
forty per year. 

The number of steamboats arriving daily, in the year 
1847, was seven, and the departures the same. 

Total arrivals in 1847, - - - 2,555 

" departures in 1847, - - . 2,555 

The average tonnage of these boats is estimated at one 
hundred and eighty-two tons, and the aggregate tonnage, 
for the year, four hundred and sixty-five thousand tons 
each way. 

The amount of coal shipped from Wheeling, in 1847, 
was two million nine hundred thousand bushels. The 
coal is not of the best quality, but is sufficiently good for 
ordinary purposes, and furnishes important facilities for 
manufacturing at this place. Wheeling is consequently 
a manufacturing town of some note, employing forty- 
seven steam engines, and nearly three thousand operatives. 

Between Wheeling and Cincinnati the towns, such as 
Maysville, Portsmouth and Marietta, are more engaged 
in the shipment of produce than in mechanical employ- 
ments, although at all those places, and many others on 
the rivers, there are manufactories which contribute to 
swell the great aggregate of our creative industry. 

At Pomeroy, a village in Ohio, are the mines from 
which Cincinnati and other places on the river are sup- 
plied with their best coal. For family use this is the 
finest article for fuel that comes to our market, where it is 



245 LOUISVILLE — 'NASHVILLE — ST. LOUIS. 

sold in large quantities, at an average of about ten cents 
per bushel. 

Louisville, Nashville, and St. Louis, have no manu- 
factures worthy of being mentioned in comparison with 
those of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati; but this remark is 
not made invidiously, or as affording any ground for the 
inference, which casual observers have often drawn, that 
the former cities possess less wealth or enterprise. It 
shows simply that their industry is directed in different 
channels. They are altogether commercial, and their 
wealth is employed in the interchange of the various 
commodities which enter into the traffic of this vast 
region — chiefly in the importation of merchandise from 
New Orleans, and the eastern cities, and the shipment of 
western produce to the southern and Atlantic markets. 

It is a question often discussed, and which we shall not 
attempt to settle, which of these cities is pre-eminent in 
wealth and business. The dispute is unprofitable, and it 
is to b,e hoped that it may remain undecided ; for there is 
no sober or practical view of the question in which they 
can be considered as rivals. Neither of them can by its 
growth overshadow another, or drain its resources. Sep- 
arated by wide tracts of country, and each the centre of 
a vast circle, daily augmenting in population, we can 
scarcely imagine any series of events which can change 
the relations of these cities, to the whole country, or to each 
each other. Rapidly as they are advancing, their growth 
bears no proportion to that which must take place in the 
regions around them, of which they are respectively the 
marts; and smaller places of business are becoming es- 
tablished, to supply the wants of the country — but still 
tributary to the larger cities, which form the arterial 



I 



ST. LOUIS. 247 

channels of our commerce, and whose prosperity is 
equally essential to the whole country, and to each other. 
St. Louis is one of the oldest places in the West, hav- 
ing heen settled by the French in 1763.* Peirre Choteau, 
and other Frenchmen, were very successful in conciliating" 
the confidence of the Indians, and extended the barter of 
merchandise for furs and peltry, throughout the most of 
the Western tribes. The whole of the Indian trade of the 
country lying upon the Mississippi and its tributaries, cen- 
tered at that point; at which was also the depot for all the 
military posts on the Western frontier, and the head-quar- 
ters for most of the officers and agents of the government 
having transactions in the far West. The lead mines in 
Missouri, and the inexhaustable beds of that mineral more 
recently discovered in Illinois, and Wisconsin, render this 
the principal market for that article, of which immense 
quantities are annually exported. Wheat, corn, pork, 
tobacco, and hemp, are largely produced in the vast region 
of fertile land, lying around, of which St. Louis is, and 
must ever be, the emporium. 

St. Louis has, therefore, always been a place of great 
resort, and of remarkable activity in business; and its geo- 
graphical position seems to insure for it a continuance of 
that pre-eminence. Its central position in relation to New 
Orleans on the one hand, and the vast expanse of country 
drained by the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Illinois, 
on the other, gives it natural advantages, as a commercial 

*I take this occasion to refer the reader to an excellent account 
of St. Louis, in the Illinois Monthly Magazine, for April 1832, 
and May 1832, written by Wilson Primm, Esq., of that city, and 
transferred by me into the "Sketches of the West," and also to 
an address by him at the celebration of the Anniversary of the 
founding of St. Louis, on the 15th February, 1847. 



248 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 

place, which are unrivaled, and these advantages are 
well appreciated and improved by a sound and enterprising 
population, St. Louis holds the same rank in respect to 
the region of the Upper Mississippi, that Cincinnati occu- 
pies in relation to that of the Ohio — each of them is the 
mart and commercial metropolis of a wide area, in which 
they are each unrivaled. 

We have before us a valuable report, "prepared by 
authority of the delegates from the city of St. Louis, for 
the use of Chicago convention of July 5, 1847," from 
which we select the following passages. 

"At the first census (1790) the population of the valley 
of the Mississippi did not exceed two hundred thousand. 
In 1800, it had increased to about five hundred and sixty 
thousand; in 1810, to one million three hundred and 
seventy thousand ; in 1820, to two millions five hundred 
and-eighty thousand ; in 1830. to four millions one hundred 
and ninety thousand; in 1840, to six millions three hun- 
dred and seventy thousand; and in 1847, according to the 
preceding average ratio of increase, it exceeds ten millions 
five hundred and tw^enty thousand. In the year 1850, 
according to such ratio, it will exceed twelve millions, and 
be about equal to the population of all the Atlantic states. 

"The history of Missouri alone, however, exhibits a 
still more extraordinary increase. In 1771, the popula- 
tion was seven hundred and forty-three; in 1799, it was 
six thousand and five; in 1810, it was twenty thousand 
eight hundred and forty-five; in 1820, it was sixty-six 
thousand five hundred and eighty-six; in 1830, it was one 
hundred and forty thousand four hundred and fifty-five; 
in 1840, it was three hundred and eighty-three thousand 
seven hundred and two; and according to the same ratio 
of increase, (one hundred and seventy-three per cent. 



MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 249 

decennially,) it is, in 1847, eight hundred and twenty-five 
thousand and seventy-four, being an increase of over six- 
teen per cent, per annum. But while the decennial in- 
crease of Missouri was one hundred and seventy-three per 
cent., that of Illinois was two hundred and two, Missis- 
sippi, one hundred and seventy-five, Michigan, five hun- 
dred and fifty-five, and Arkansas, two hundred and twenty- 
one per cent. 

" The commerce and agriculture of this valley exhibit 
a growth as surprising as that of its population. 

" The first schooner of the northern lakes, ' the Griffin,' 
in 1679, was freighted with the first combination of com- 
mercial enterprise and settlement that reached the valley 
of the Mississippi. Thus the rivers of the valley owe to 
the great lakes the introduction of commerce and popu- 
lation. 

"From that period up to the purchase of Louisiana in 
1803, and even later, the fur trade of the French emi- 
grants with the Indians constituted a leading pursuit of 
the inhabitants, especially of the upper half of the valley 
of the Mississippi. These immense rivers and lakes were 
navigated from Quebec, on the St. Lawrence, to the Yel- 
low Stone, on the Missouri, by bark canoes, and the Fox 
and Wisconsin rivers, connecting the lakes with the Mis- 
sippi, were a chief thoroughfare of the trade. 

" Next to the canoe came the Mackinaw boat, carrying 
fifteen hundred weight to three tons, and then the keel 
boat or barge of thirty to forty tons. The first appearance 
of the keel boat in the Mississippi, above the mouth of the 
Ohio, of which we have any account, was in 1751, when 
a fleet of boats, commanded by Bossu, a captain of French 
marines, ascended as far as Fort Chartres. This enter- 
prise, alsOj was the first to ascertain, by experience, some- 



250 ST. LOUIS. 

thing of the nature of the navigation of the Mississippi. 
One of the boats, 'the St. Louis,' struck a sandbar above 
the mouth of the Ohio, was unladen and detained two 
days. Three days after, says the traveler, ' my boat ran 
against a tree, of which the Mississippi is full ; the shock 
burst the boat, and such a quantity of water got in it that 
it sunk in less than an hour's time,' This was probably 
the first boat snagged on the Mississippi. From three to 
four months was the time consumed at this period, and for 
many years afterward, in a voyage from New Orleans to 
the settlements in the vicinity of St. Louis; a voyage oc- 
cupying a steamboat, in 1819, twenty-seven days! but 
which of late has been accomplished in less than four 
days ! 

" The city of St. Louis is the base of the navigation of 
all the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries, and the head 
of navigation for the larger boats from the Ohio and 
Lower Mississippi. Here is concentrated all the trade of 
the Upper Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Illinois rivers, 
and a large portion of that of the Ohio, and the Lower 
Mississippi. Hence is exhibited as busy and as crowded 
a wharf as can any where be seen, upon which are com- 
mingled people of many nations, and products of every 
clime, and every species of industry. The city was built 
upon a limestone bluff, of moderate elevation, fronting on 
the Mississippi, whose water washed its base with a con- 
venient depth. From the condition of a fur trader's post, 
it has grown to the quality of a city, promising soon to be 
of the first class. From a mere boat load of traders, its 
population has gone on multiplying until it has reached 
the number of fifty thousand. From a trade of a few 
thousand dollars in furs and peltries, a commere has arisen 
which counts its millions. It has grown to be the greatest 



ST. LOUIS. 251 

steamboat port, next to New Orleans, in the world.* Its 
enrolled and licensed tonnage was, in 

1844 16,664 

1845 20,424 

1846 . . - - 23,800 

at $65 per ton, its tonnage, for 1 846, was worth $ 1 ,547,000. 
"But this tonnage of its own is not all that is required 
by its trade. The total number of steamboat arrivals at 
St. Louis, was, 

In 



1839, 


1,476 


with 


213,193 tons. 


1840, 


1,721 


.(( 


244,185 « 


1841, 


2,105 


(C 


371,691 « 


1842, 


2,412 


(( 


467,824 " 



"Besides eight hundred and one flatboats, and is exclusive 
of the daily packets to Alton. During the month of May, 
1846, there were twelve steamboat arrivals per day. 

" The following table of the imports to St, Louis, during 
the years named, is but an approximation to the actual 
truth, as many articles of great value, such as dry goods, 
hardware, cutlery, specie, bullion, fancy articles, furniture, 
machinery, farming implements, leather, arm}?- and Indian 
supplies, wool, castor oil, hay, horses, mules, cattle, hogs 
and sheep, &c., &c., are omitted. 

*The writer no doubt believed this statement to be true, but its 
fallacy will be apparent from a comparison of the steamboat arrivals 
and departures in 1847 which we have stated in another place 
from authentic data, that of St. Louis being taken from his 
own report : 

Cincinnati, - - _ 7,458 

Pittsburgh, - - - 6,356 

St. Louis, - - - 5,642 



252 ST. 


LOUIS. 


Table of imports info St. Louis 


,for the yea 




1844. 


Apples — Green, bbls. 


7,233 


Dried do 


- 1,892 


do sacks, 


2,388 


Beef— bbls. 


- 4,280 


half bbls. 


63 


Bacon — casks, 


- 19,225 


boxes. 


484 


bulk, lbs., 


- 89,725 


Butter— bbls. 


618 


kegs and firkins, 


- 3,099 


Beeswax — bbls.. 


337 


boxes and sacks. 


837 


Bagging — pieces. 


3,120 


Beans — bbls., 


- 1,518 


sacks. 


389 


Barley— bushels. 


- 8,478 


BuiFalo robes. 


33,670 


Corn — bushels, 


-.-56,720 


Castings — tons, 


937 


Cheese — casks. 


550 


boxes. 


9,337 


Cider— bbls.. 


711 


Coffee — sacks. 


38,731 


Cotton yarn — packages. 


- 5,354 


Flour— bbls.. 


88,881 


half bbls.. 


530 


Furs — packages. 


973 


Feathers — sacks. 


471 


Flaxseed— bbls.. 


2,741 


Ginseng — bbls., 


75 


sacks. 


34 


Glass — boxes. 


- 4,697 


Hemp — bales. 


59,292 


Hides, 


- 55,572 


Iron, bar — ton, 


1,981 


Pig do 


- 1,469 


Lead — pigs. 


595,012 



1845. 1846. 

6,314 3,728 

2,989 3,255 

2,147 2,768 

5,264 17,116 

99 169 

6,180 11,803 

149 618 

94,274 207,446 

558 823 

3,424 3,940 

319 476 

631 646 

4,217 3,243 

2,091 4,370 

1,320 2,199 

32,231 20,277 

14,475 16,717 

107,927 688,644 

1,590 1,604 

221 430 

8,822 11,232 

763 421 

46,204 65,128 

10,756 13,260 

139,282 220,457 

563 1,059 

2,555 3,011 

816 768 

2,136 3,693 

20 19 

63 58 

23,563 24,630 

30,997 33,853 

70,102 63,396 

2,282 2,484 

1,480 2,326 

750,879 730,820 



ST. LOUIS. , 253 

1844. 1845. 1846. 

Lead— bars— lbs., - - 19,300 88,650 7,621 

Lard— bbls., - - 12,293 7,652 26,462 

kegs, - - - 12,949 6,659 14,734 

Liquor— Whisky— bbls., - 24,510. 29,798 29,882 

Brandy do - 1,477 1,886 1,698 

Wine do - 2,611 3,600 3,084 

Lead— white— kegs, - - 5,256 3,466 1,526 

Molasses— bbls., - - 3,270 11,788 14,996 

Nails— kegs, - - 23,703 21,587 28,073 

Oils— Linseed— bbls., - 140 695 826 

Castor do - - 106 78 95 

Lard do ' - 867 284 292 

Onions— bbls., - - 1,449 217 463 

sacks, * - - 2,351 1,893 4,752 

Oakum—bales, - - 681 1,104 1,378 

Oats— bushels, - - 16,480 16,112 95,612 

Pork— bbls., - - - 29,945 15,702 48,981 

half bbls., - - 73 89 39 

bulk lbs., - - 136,333 261,754 630,765 

Peaches— green— bbls., - 382 735 420 

dried do - - 356 1,000 1,210 

do sacks, - 445 826 295 

Potatoes— bbls., - - 3,815 2,449 3,625 

sacks - - 21,272 12,045 26,979 

Peltries— packages, - - 540 917 1,266 

Rice— tierces, - - 670 869 916 

bbls., - - - 103 34 

Rye— bushels, - - 61 3,054 5,283 

Rope— hemp— coils, - - 12,525 8,890 5,122 

Shot— kegs, _ . - - 28 462 

bags, - - - 88 2,112 1,026 

Skins, - - - 32,859 25,205 23,872 

Salt— domestic— bbls., - 27,736 21,157 58,948 

Liverpool— sacks, - 112,507 99,272 169,373 

Turk's Island— bags, - 11,727 13,412 8,391 

Sugar— hhds., - - 9,070 10,259 11,603 

bbls., - - - 1,912 3,721 4,400 

Havana— boxes, - 1,630 516 1,352 



254 ST. LOUIS. 






1844. 


1845. 


1846. 


Tallow— casks, - - 32 


75 


303 


bbls., - - 810 


688 


1,114 


Tar— bbls., - - 528 


1,630 


1,558 


kegs, - - - 2,011 


4,128 


5,776 


Tobacco— hhds., - - 9,707 


11,564 


8,588 


manufactured— boxes, 7,380 


7,777 


7,903 


Tea— chests, - - - 1,361 


434 


2,091 


half chests, - - 879 


1,652 


1,963 


Vinegar— bbls., - - 1,373 


1,032 


1,086 


Wheat— bushels, - - 720,663 


971,025 


1,838,926 



"The following table embraces imports, to the city, of 
wood and lumber, for the years 

1845. * 1846. 

Cords of wood, 22.646 29,476 

Lumber, feet, 10,389,332 13,169,322 

Shingles, M, 13,927,500 10,652,000 

Cooper stuff, 41,700 966,963 

Posts, 5,263 6,997 

Laths, 2,328,700 1,807,700 

" During the present year, (1847,) the business of the 
city has materially increased. In the articles of flour and 
wheat the increase has been nearly one hundred per cent, 
both in quality and value. The money value of nearly 
all agricultural products, has greatly increased, and the 
quantity put in motion has been, in respnct to most of the 
articles exported, augmented in about the same proportion. 

" The Mississippi river takes its rise in latitude 48" 
north, and discharges its waters into the Gulf of Mexico 
in latitude 29° 5'. It flows through a channel three thou- 
sand miles long. Its course is south, nearly 14° east. 
Its width averages about half a mile. Its width does not 
increase with the volume of water, but is about the same 
at Galena, one thousand six hundred miles above the 
mouth, as at New Orleans, where the volume is six times 



ST. LOUIS. 250 

as great. It is six hundred and forty-five yards wide at 
Vidalia, Louisiana. It drains an area of three hundred 
thousand square miles. Its mean velocity at the surface, 
for the year, opposite Vidalia, is 1.88 miles per hour. 
(Opposite St. Louis its velocity is about three miles per 
hour.) Its mean depth, per annum, across the entire 
channel, at the same place, (Vidalia,) is about sixty feet. 
The mean velocity is reduced about fifteen per cent, by 
friction against the bottom. The total amount of water 
discharged, per annum, in cubic feet, is 8,092, 11 8,940,000. 
— Prof. Forshey. 

" The Missouri river rises within one mile of the head 
waters of the great river of the Oregon. It opens the 
' gates of the Rocky Mountams,' at a point four hundred 
and eleven miles above the head of its navigation. The 
following are some of its principal tributaries, each navi- 
gable from one hundred to eight hundred miles : — 

800 yards wide at its mouth. 



Yellowstone E 


aver, 


800 


Chienne, 


a 


400 


White, 


« 


300 


Big Sioux, 


« - 


110 


Platte, 


it 


600 


Kanzas, 


tt . 


233 


Grand, 


« 


190 


La Mine, 


It 


70 


Osage, 


« 


397 


:, Gasconade, 


« - 





" The length of the Missouri, from its source to its 
mouth, is three thousand and ninety-six miles, and no 
substantial obstruction impedes its navigation from its 
mouth to the falls, two thousand miles. Considering the 
Missouri as one river from its sources to the Gulf of Mex- 
icOj it is the longest in the world. Its average rapidity is 
nearly twice that of the Mississippi, as the average level 



256 ST. LOUIS. 

of its valley is nearly twice more elevated than that of the 
Mississippi. The first year a steamboat navigated the 
Missouri was 1819, The following is an exhibit of the 
number of steamboats engaged in the trade of that river 
from 1838 to 1846:— 



Year. Number 


of Boats. 




Number 


of Trips. 


1838, - 


17 


- 


- 




96 • 


1839, 


35 - 


. 




. 


141 


1840, - 


28 


- 


- 




147 


1841, 


32 - 


- 




. 


162 


1842, - 


29 


- 


- 




188 


1843, 


26 - 


- 




- 


205 


1845, arrivals at St. Louis from the Missouri, 




249 


1846, 


(( 


(( 




. 


256 



" The Santa Fe trade, and the fur and Indian trade, as 
well as the domestic commerce of that river, are very 
important and extensive, and there are those who antici- 
pate the period when that stream will be made a great 
artery of the trade between the United States and China 
and the East Indies. The trade between St. Louis and 
Santa Fe is estimated at $500,000 per annum. The fur 
trade of St. Louis is valued at $300,000 per annum. 

" The total annual commerce of St. Louis, imports and 
exports included, although yet in its infancy, is estimated 
at over $75,000,000,* equalling nearly one-third of the 
whole foreign commerce of the United States. 



*This sum may seem too large ; but of the innumerable articles 
of trade, take flour and wheat as one example : — 
1846, Barrels of flour manufactured in 

the city, - - - - 223,500 

« Barrels of flour imported - 221,086 



Total, barrels flour, 444,586 



ST. LOUIS. 257 

The income of the city per annum is, $275,000 

Taxable property for 1845, - 13,607,000 

« " « 1846, - - 14,544,238 

" 1847, - 16,665,142 

" Amount of duties paid to the United States at the St. 
Louis custom house, the current year, $50^000. 

" The United States arsenal is beautifully situated at the 
lower end of the city, and consists of stone buildings and 
walls of great value and durability. Jefferson Barracks, 
eight miles below, constantly occupied by more or less 
troops of the United States, and capable of accommoda- 
ting two regiments, is considered one of the most eligible 
stations in the valley of the Mississippi. Both the arsenal 

Worth $5 per barrel, - - . . $2,222,930 

Bushels of wheat imported, 1,838,926, 

worth $1 per bushel, . - - - 1,838,926 



Total value of the flour and wheat of St. Louis, 1846, $4,061,856 

And, as this does not include the quantities brought to the city 
in wagons, the estimate is below the fact, and still much below the 
business of 1847. 

Yet, so many will be still disposed to doubt the estimate, that, 
rather than reduce a single figure, we will offer one method of 
demonstrating its truth. 

We have shown that the average tonnage of steamboats trading 
at St. Louis is two hundred and ten tons per boat — that there 
are two thousand four hundred and twelve arrivals per annum of 
steamboats, and eight hundred arrivals of flatboats. The flat- 
boats we will average at the low rate of fifty tons each. 

2412x210=506,520 
800x 50= 40,000 



Total tons, 546,520 

Now, what is the value of a ton ? Take, for the purpose of 
deriving an average, say eleven of our principal articles of trade, 
22 



258 ST. LOUIS. 

and the barracks have been of great and indispensable 
service to the government in the present war. The two 
comprise a value in government property of $1,750,000, 
and permanent and valuable improvements are still going 
on. In consequence of the favorableness of the position, 
the cheapness of manufacture, and the facility of commu- 
nication in every direction, the government has had very 
large supplies manufactured here ; much larger, proba- 
bly, than at any other arsenal in the United States, At 
the conclusion of the existing w^ar, enormous quantities 
of government stores will be turned in upon the Missis- 
sippi ; most of which will come to this arsenal for 
repairs and storage. The increasing demands upon it 
have constrained the officer in charge already to report 
the shops, laboratories and magazines as too small for the 
public wants. Since the commencement of the Mexican 

yet of the lowest value per ton. For example: hay is worth $20; 
tobacco $90; lead $75; hemp $75; flour $65; corn $22; wheat 
$44; oats $22; pork $130; bacon $130; beef $88 — average value 
per ton, $68. Most other articles of import and export are worth 
more. Let us then multiply our average value of a ton by the 
number of tons, 546,520x68=$37,103,360. But these are articles 
of export. Our imports must be equivalent. The sum must, 
therefore, be doubled. We have, then, $74,206,720, as the value 
of our imports and exports by boats. There are $2,000,000 of 
specie and bullion to be added. There are vast amounts arriving 
and departing by wagons; many rafts of lumber; one million 
three hundred and thirty-five thousand eight hundred and seventy- 
three bushels of coal, and many other items to be added, increas- 
ing, rather than reducing our estimate. The tables of imports, 
derived from the Harbor Master's register, are very imperfect, and 
fall very far short of the truth. For example: The number of 
buffalo robes received in 1846, are put down at sixteen thousand 
seven hundred and seventeen, while we are assured, by the best 
authority, that the number was as high as sixty thousand. 



JiOUISVILLE. 259 

war, there have been, manufactured at this arsenal, gun- 
powder munitions and other ordnance stores to the amount 
of about one thousand one hundred and fifty tons, costing 
several millions of dollars, and sent up and down the 
Missouri and the Mississippi ; between four hundred and 
five hundred tons of shells and shot ; about seven millions of 
cartridges for small arms, of which two millions five hun- 
dred thousand were made in the single month of April, be- 
sides enormous quantities of artillery munitions, giving 
employment for considerable times together to five hundred 
to six hundred hands. The unequaled advantages of 
this city, as a military position, have been fully demon- 
strated during the present war. 

Besides, the city of St. Louis is a port of entry; the seat 
of a United States custom-house; of a United States sub- 
treasury; of a United States land office; of a United States 
superintendency of Indian affairs ; of a United States sur- 
veyor general's office; of a United States arsenal; a land- 
ing place for a military barracks; the head-quarters of a 
United States military division, and the point from which 
the United States military posts of the Upper Mississippi 
and Missouri are garrisoned and supplied. Indeed, it is 
difficult to comprehend the extent of the vast interests of 
the government and people here co-mingled. And as the 
territory and population, commerce and navigation, of the 
country are increasing, almost b.eyond the ability of the 
imagination to keep pace with them, this point is daily, 
pari passu, advancing in importance, as the commercial 
centre, the seat of concentrated capital, talent, skill and 
enterprise. 

Louisville was one of the earliest settlements on the 
Ohio, and was rendered the more important at that time 
by its position, at the falls of Ohio, that obstruction 



260 LOUISVILLE. 

causing necessarily the landing of all boats passing up or 
down the river, and the transit of all freight and passen- 
gers by a portage of two miles overland. The periods 
during which the rapids may be passed by boats are con- 
fined in a few days at a time, — occasionally a few weeks — 
in the spring and winter — periods so brief, and occurring 
so seldom, as to form scarcely an exception. 

The construction of a canal round the falls has not, in 
my opinion, materially affected the prosperity of Louis- 
ville, in this respect, as the detention occasioned by passing 
through it must still make Louisville a stopping place for 
all steamboats, and this would seem to be the chief advan- 
tage derived from the circumstance. In this we may be 
mistaken; but we have always supposed that the people 
of Louisville overrated the advantage of this great natural 
impediment to navigation, and in consequence, under- 
valued more important considerations connected with their 
local position, and neglected to improve resources that, 
properly cultivated, must unquestionably have led to pros- 
perity. Experience has shown that the most efficient ele- 
ment of the sustenance of a town is a rich surrounding 
country. A populous, or a very extensive region, abound- 
ing in natural resources, having but one principal market, 
will inevitably build up, at the place of that market, a town 
whose prosperity, as a general rule, will be in proportion to 
that of the country itself Such is most emphatically the 
case with Cincinnati and St. Louis, the centre each of a 
vast agricultural area; and of Pittsburgh having great re- 
sources in coal and iron, and a boundless outlet for the 
fabrics of her workshops. And such too is the case with 
Louisville, the natural depot for some of the finest coun- 
ties of Kentucky, and for a portion of Indiana. St. Louis 
has the advantage of long rivers, stretching and spreading 



LOUISVILLE. 261 

out, through a widely extended surface of country ; while 
Cincinnati, in addition to her natural advantages of river 
navigation, has constructed artificial highways penetrating 
the region around her in every direction, and drawing with- 
in her influence the rich tribute of its agricultural surplus. 
Had Louisville, with similar forecast, penetrated the interior 
of Kentucky with turnpikes and railroads, she would have 
attracted to herself a vastly increased amount of business ; 
and the country, already rich, abundant in resources, and 
inferior to none in the industry and energy of its popula. 
tion, would have been stimulated, by these facilities for ex- 
portation, to a greatly increased production. Eventually 
these results will probably take place. Kentucky, as a 
state, has the advantage of being out of debt, and in high 
credit, and has therefore ample means for carrying out a 
system of internal improvement on a scale worthy of a 
commonwealth so rich in resources and in patriotism. 
The examples of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, will 
not be lost upon her. She will awake to the importance 
of opening the channels of commerce, bringing the mar- 
ket to the door of the farmer, and placing her commercial 
towns in free competition with those of other states. 
Under such auspicies, Louisville could not fail to regain 
the standing which she has heretofore held, and from 
which she has within a few years past — temporarily, as 
we suppose — receded. 

Louisville is surrounded by a very beautiful tract offer- 
tile land, which is well cultivated, and some of it highly 
improved. It has an abundant banking capital; the Bank 
of Kentucky, the Bank of Louisville, and a branch of the 
Northern Bank of Kentucky, all sound and well managed 
institutions, being located here. The canal furnishes a 
large amount of water power, which has not yet invited 



262 LOUISVILLE. 

the attention of capitalists, but which, combined as it is 
with many other valuable facilities for manfacturing, must 
some day become attractive. 

We have not been able to procure any authentic account 
of the steamboat arrivals and departures at Louisville, or 
other business statistics, which would afford data for a com- 
parison between that and other Western cities. We are 
advised that "this prosperous city keeps no account of its 
business;" and we regret that such is the case, as an exhi- 
bit could not fail to be creditable to its business and pros- 
pects. A friend has kindly furnished, "from individual 
sources " the following items of merchandise received and 
sold at Louisville in 1847, which does not include any 
goods received for the purpose of being forwarded to other 
places: 

Sugar— hhds., .... 9,320 

Molasses— bbls., - - - - 10,220 

Coffee— bags, , - - - - 37,125 

Cotton — bales, - - - - 5,620 

Tobacco— hhds., - - - - 6,650 

Bagging — pieces, in 8 months, - - 44,700 

Bale rope — ^pieces, in 8 months, - - 27,400 



CINCIKNATI. 263^ 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Cincinnati in 1836. 

In selecting a few facts in relation to the business of 
Cincinnati, for the purpose of illustrating the general sub- 
ject before us, it is not intended to give prominence to 
this city in preference to the others. We collect our facts 
here because this is the place of our residence, and the 
data are more readily obtained than similar details respect- 
ing distant places; nor can we discharge this part of our 
task better than by extracting the following remarks 
from an interesting article written for the Western Monthly 
Magazine, by our lamented friend, Benjamin Drake, Es- 
quire, formerly of this city, a most amiable and excellent 
man, who, during a brief but useful life, devoted a liberal 
portion of his time and talents to the advancements of the 
interests and the elevation of the character of Cincinnati. 
He was an able and agreeable writer, vi^hose pen was al- 
ways at the service of the public, and whose public 
spirit was surpassed only by his pure and elevated mor- 
ality. 

"Cincinnati is built upon an elevated and beautiful 
plane, on the north bank of the Ohio river, in latitude 39** 
6' 30". From the junction of the Alleghany and Mo- 
nongahela rivers, following the meanders of the Ohio, it 
is distant four hundred and fifty-five miles, and from the 
union of the Ohio and Mississippi, five hundred and four 



264 TRADE AND COMMERCE. 

miles. Over land it is distant from Columbus, the capital 
of the state, one hundred and ten miles; from Sandusky 
City, two hundred miles; from Indianapolis, one hundred 
and twenty miles ; from Frankfort, eighty-five miles ; from 
Nashville, two hundred and seventy miles; from Natchez, 
six hundred and eighty miles ; from New Orleans, eight 
hundred and sixty miles; from St. Louis, three hundred 
and fifty miles; from Louisville, one hundred and five 
miles; from Baltimore, five hundred and eighteen miles; 
from Philadelphia, six hundred and seventeen miles; from 
Washington City, five hundred miles; from New York, 
by the way of lake Erie, nine hundred miles ; and from 
Charleston, six hundred miles. The valley, in which 
Cincinnati, Newport and Covington are built, is about 
twelve miles in circumference. The Ohio river enters 
this valley on the east, and passes out on the west side. 
The southern half of it is bisected by Licking river, which 
disembogues itself into the Ohio opposite Cincinnati, sepa- 
rating the towns of Newport and Covington. The upper 
plane on which Cincinnati is built is five hundred and 
forty feet above tide water at Albany, and twenty-five feet 
below the level of Lake Erie. Low water mark in the 
Ohio, at this point, is four hundred and thirty-two feet 
above tide water at Albany, and one hundred and thirty- 
three feet below Lake Erie. The shores of the Ohio at 
this point afibrd good landing for boats at all seasons of 
the year. 

"In 1826 the manufacturing industry of Cincinnati, 
alone, amounted, according to an accurate statistical ex- 
amination, to $1,800,000, in a population of sixteen thou- 
sand two hundred and thirty persons. At that time there 
were not more than fifteen steam engines employed in 
manufactures in the city. There are now upwards of 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 265 

fifty in successful operation, besides four or five in New- 
port and Covington. More than one hundred steam en- 
gines, about two hundred and forty cotton gins, upwards 
of twenty sugar mills, and twenty-two steamboats — many 
of them of the largest size — have been built or manufac- 
tured in Cincinnati, during the year 1835. If then, in 
the year 1826, with a population of but sixteen thousand 
two hundred and thirty, the manufacturing industry of 
Cincinnati was $1,800,000, it is perfectly safe, with the 
facts before us, to place the productive industry for the 
year 1835, of Cincinnati, Newport, and Covington, with, 
their population of thirty-five thousand souls, at $5,000,000. 
The truth is that Cincinnati and her sister towns are 
mainly indebted to their manufactures for the steady and 
onward prosperity which marks their career. Fortunately 
they have but few, if any, overgrown manufacturing es- 
tablishments, but a large number of small ones, confided 
to individual enterprise anJ personal superintendence. 
These are distributed among all classes of the population, 
and produce a great variety of articles which minister to 
the wants, the comforts and luxuries, of the people in al- 
most every part of the Mississippi valley. In truth, with 
the exception of Pittsburgh, there is no city in the West 
or South that, in its manufactures and manufacturing ca- 
pabilities, bears any approach to Cincinnati and her asso- 
ciate towns, 

"The region inseparably connected with, and dependent 
upon, Cincinnati, Newport and Covington, as their great 
commercial and manufacturing mart, embraces the country 
bordering on the two Miami rivers, the eastern portion of 
Indiana, and the adjoining parts of Kentucky, including 
the valley of Licking river. It may be estimated to con- 
tain ten million acres of land, having within itself the 
23 



266 TRADE AND COMMERCE. 

capabilities of sustaining four millions of inhabitants. This 
rich and salubrious region is traversed by the Ohio, Lick- 
ing, and Great and Little Miami rivers, all of them navi- 
gable to some extent, and the two last eminently adapted 
to manufacturing purposes. It is a region which pro- 
duces abundantly, wheat, corn, barley, hops, oats, hemp, 
tobacco, horses, mules, sheep, cattle and hogs, to say no- 
thing of the various mineral products which lie beneath 
the soil, and the fine timber which rests upon it. 

" The progressive increase of population in Cincinnati 
will appear from the following table. In 1810, there were 
two thousand three hundred and twenty inhabitants ; in 
1813, there were four thousand; in 1819, there were ten 
thousand; in 1824, there were twelve thousand and six- 
teen; in 1826, there were sixteen thousand two hundred 
and thirty ; at the present time, it may be safely placed at 
thirty-one thousand. If to this be added the population of 
Newport and Covington, the aggregate population will 
equal thirty-five thousand. 

" F,or the want of the proper commercial regulations? 
the exports and imports from this point, annually, cannot 
be given with entire accuracy. At the close of the year 
1826, the writer of this article, by a laborious examina- 
tion, ascertained that the exports of that year wese about 
$1,000,000 in value. A similar inquiry induced him to 
place the exports of 1832 at $4,000,000. For the year 
1835, he feels no hesitation in placing them at $6,000,000, 
or upwards. This estimate is based upon the following 
facts and considerations. 

" The general growth and prosperity of the city and 
surrounding country for the last few years; the increasing 
amount of tolls on the Miami canal; the enlarged number 
and variety of manufacturing establishments in Cincinnati, 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 267 

Newport and Covington, within the last four years; the 
arrival in Cincinnati, during the greater part of the year 
1835, of fifty stages and sixty mails per week; the steam- 
boat arrivals at our quay, for the last year, being two 
thousand two hundred and thirty-seven; the receipt dur- 
ing the same period in this city of ninety thousand barrels 
of flour, and fifty-five thousand barrels of whiskey ; and 
finally from the fact that, in the winter of 1832-3, there 
were eighty-five thousand hogs slaughtered in Cincinnati 
— in 1833-4, something rising one hundred and twenty- 
three thousand — while in 1834-5, (the whole of which, 
with those brought to this place in wagons and by the 
canal, went into the exports of the past year,) the number 
was one hundred and sixty-two thousand. If from these 
we turn to the manufactures for the same period, embra- 
cing twenty-two steamboats, one hundred steam engines, 
twenty sugar mills, two hundred and forty cotton gins, 
besides the varied products of our countless factories, in 
iron, wood, cotton, leather, hemp, oil, lumber, furs, &c., 
&c., it is perfectly obvious that the exports from Cincinnati, 
Newport and Covington, for the year 1835, have been 
above, rather than below, $6,000,000. 

" It is to be borne in mind, that Cincinnati, Newport 
and Covington have attained their present population, com- 
merce and manufactures, without the aid of any work of 
internal improvement but that of the Miami canal, and 
two Macadam turnpikes, one running sixteen miles to- 
wards Columbus, and the other twelve miles towards Le- 
banon. Let us now see what improvements of this kind 
are projected or actually in progress, the completion of 
which will directly and powerfully aid in their growth. 1. 
The extension of the Miami canal from Dayton to the 
Maumee Bay, a part of which will be completed early in 



268 TRADE AND COMMERCE. 

the ensuing summer. 2. A Macadam turnpike from Chilli- 
cothe to Cincinnati, a part of which is under contract. 3. 
The continuation of the Cincinnati, Columbus and Woos- 
ter, and the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Spring-fieJd turnpikes, 
portions of which have already been constructed. 4. The 
Cincinnati and Harrison turnpike, leading to the boundary 
line between Ohio and Indiana, a distance of twenty miles, 
which will be completed early in the present year, and 
hereafter continued to Brookville, Indiana. 5. A Maca- 
dam turnpike from Covington to Georgetown and Lex- 
ington, which is now constructing. 6. A canal, the con- 
struction of which is already- authorised, from the sources 
of White Water, to Lawrenceburg, crossing the line be- 
tween Ohio and Indiana into the county of Hamilton, and 
thence branching to this city, 7. The railroad now 
making from Lawrenceburg, twenty miles west of Cin- 
cinnati, to Indianapolis, and the railroad already au- 
thorised, to connect Lawrenceburg with this city. 8. The 
extension of the Cumberland road through Ohio and In- 
diana,' crossing the Miami canal, and the routes of several 
of the turnpikes already enumerated, as they diverge to 
the north, from this city. 6. The railroad running from 
this place up the valley of the Little Miami, and branch- 
ing at Todd's fork, one track passing on to Xenia, and 
connecting w^ith the Mad-river and Sandusky rail-road, 
(now constructing) at Springfield, and the other stretching 
north-eastwardly to Columbus, and thence to Lake Erie, 
at Cleveland. And finally, the great railroad between this 
city and Charleston, the most magnificent and important 
public work that has yet been projected in our country. 
This road, stretching through the states of Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee, and South Carolina, with branches passing off into 
Georgia and North Carolina in the south, and in the north 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 269 

sending a branch to Louisville, and another to Maysville, 
with the main track connecting at this point with the rail- 
roads running from Cincinnati to Indianapolis, and from 
Cincinnati to Sandusky and Cleveland on the lake, and 
also with the Miami canal, must of itself exert a degree 
of influence upon the future destiny of Cincinnati, New- 
port and Covington, that it is difficult to appreciate. 

" These are works of internal improvement that are 
already begun or projected. They are all practicable — 
they will all be executed in less than six years from this 
time. The most difficult, expensive, and at first view un- 
likely to be accomplished, is that from the valley of the 
Ohio to the southern seaboard, yet we find that in less than 
five months from the time when public attention was first 
called to it, in this city, the states of South and North 
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, are 
alive to its speedy execution. And who can doubt that the 
people of these powerful, enlightened and prosperous states, 
will accomplish within a few years a work, which wdll 
bestow upon them, in all coming time, so rich a harvest of 
social, political, and pecuniary blessings? 

" Fully to comprehend the influence which these various 
works will exert upon .Cincinnati, Newport, and Coving- 
ton, it should be borne in mind that these places are near 
the centre of the largest and most fertile grain growing 
region in the world; that these works of internal improve- 
ment will traverse this district in a manner calculated to 
concentrate at this point an immense amount of business; 
that in connection with this grain-growing region are ex- 
haustless beds of iron, salt, coal, and other valuable min- 
erals; that the climate is salubrious, and the temperament 
of the people active, ingenious and enterprising. The 
careful examination of these thinsfs cannot fail to convince 



270 TRADE AND COMMERCE. 

the most skeptical that Cincinnati, Newport, and Coving- 
ton, will enjoy continued and rapid advancement in wealth 
and population. 

" Thus far the physical causes that are supposed to be 
operative in building up this city, have been principally 
considered. There are others that should not be over- 
looked. By recurring to the habits, taste, and moral and 
intellectual culture of the population of Cincinnati — the 
number of their literary, scientific, and benevolent institu- 
tions — their industry and enterprise — their quiet and or- 
derly observance of the laws and municipal regulations, it 
will be found that these important elements in the pro- 
gress and permanent prosperity of a city are strong, varied, 
and in active operation. 

"We cannot close this article without commending the 
taste and architectural skill that have been put in requisi- 
tion, in the construction of both our public and private 
buildings, within the last few years. Among the one 
hundred and fifty houses erected in Cincinnati, during the 
year 1835, there are many which would, in these particu- 
lars, do credit to any city in the Union. This is more 
particularly true of a number of warehouses — of St. 
Paul's church — of the two banking houses on Third 
street — and the ten or twelve edifices for the use of com- 
mon schools, all of which are large, commodious and ele- 
gant, and contribute in a high degree to the adornment of 
our beautiful city. 

" Finally, it may be said, that Cincinnati yields to no 
city ill the Union in the inducements which she presents 
to a residence within the noble amphitheatre of hills that 
surround her. This is true in regard to the intelligence, 
and refinement of society, the necessaries, comforts, and 
luxuries of life ; the moral and religious character of her 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 271 

population : it is true in regard to the field which she pre- 
sents for industry and enterprise in commerce and manu- 
factures; it is true in regard to the opportunities she pre- 
sents to the capitalist, for safe and profitable investments in 
real estate. On these points investigation is challenged, 
especially the latter ; for it is confidently asserted that real 
estate^ at the present time, is lower in value, in Cincinnati, 
Newport, and Covington, than any city of the Union, 
whose population, business, and permanent local advan- 
tages, are of corresponding magnitude. This single fact 
proves, incontestibly, that in the present prosperity of 
these places, there is nothing factitious, but that it is the 
natural result of those numerous indestructible moral and 
physical causes which, before the year 1850, will give to 
Cincinnati and her associate towns, one hundred thousand 
active, educated and enterprising citizens." 



272 CINCINNATI. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Cincinnati — its advantages for manufacturing. 

On the 30th of September, 1841, at a meeting- of the 
citizens of Cincinnati, a committee of thirteen persons was 
appointed " to collect information in regard to the eligi- 
bility of this city and its neighborhood, as a site for a na- 
tional armory, and to report the same^ arranged and 
embodied with such arguments as they might deem 
proper," &c. The writer of this work, as chairman of 
that committee, prepared a report, in conformity with the 
resolution, which was adopted, printed, and forwarded to 
the members of Congress. As the facts and arguments 
presented on that occasion, for the purpose of demonstra- 
ting the advantages of Cincinnati as a location for the 
manufacture of arms and military munitions, are equally 
applicable in reference to other manufactures, and espe- 
cially to all fabrics of iron, we shall insert the report entire, 
with the exception of some slight changes of phraseology. 
The reader will bear in mind that when this article was 
written, in 1841, Cincinnati contained less than sixty thou- 
sand souls, and that our population now, in 1848, is one 
hundred thousand, and that a proportionate addition should 
be made to our figures and estimates. 

In selecting a site for a national armory, there are two 
chief objects to be kept in view; 



CINCINNATI. 273 

1. The comparative facilities for the manufacture of 
arms, afforded by the several places proposed, and 

2. Their geographical positions in reference to the 
points to which arms are to be distributed. 

Both these propositions involve considerations of great 
importance, because it v^ould be in vain to select a site at 
which arms could be manufactured more cheaply than at 
other points, if that advantage should be overbalanced by 
the superior expense of transporting them to the places at 
which they are to be used ; or if delays of more or less 
frequency and duration would probably result from the 
position of the site, in relation to the great natural and 
artificial highways which connect the extremes of our 
country. 

We have therefore taken both the above branches of 
the inquiry into careful consideration, and as the result, 
respectfully present the following facts and arguments. 

The armory is to be upon the Western waters. We 
assume that water is to be used as a motive power, and for 
transportation ; and that in adopting the phrase Western 
waters, particular reference was had to the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi, and their navigable tributaries, on account, not 
only of the water power, but also of the immense and 
unrivaled advantages they afford for transportation, for 
commerce, and for the various transactions of business 
which are inseparably connected with manufacturing 
operations. We assume, further, that to secure the full 
benefit of these advantages, the spot to be selected should 
be upon one of the larger rivers, affording navigation 
during the greater part of the year, for heavy steam.boats, 
and easily accessible at all times by land or water; and 
which has already secured to itself the facilities of trade 
and manufacturing. An armory w^ould not, of itself, 



274 CINCINNATI. 

afford sufficient inducements to individual enterprise in its 
vicinity, to become the nucleus of a future town, nor 
would it draw to itself, as a centre, any system of com- 
munications by road and canal; and if the government 
acts upon the principle which would direct a judicious 
individual, it will seek the spot at which these advantages 
have been ascertained and established. 

We believe that Cincinnati possesses a greater amount, 
and a superior combination, of these requisites, than can 
be shown at any other point. Any place higher up 
upon the Ohio will be less eligible as to navigation, 
and the farther we ascend this river, the more formida- 
ble will be this objection, until we reach Pittsburgh ^ 
where it becomes, as we apprehend, insurmountable. 
The argument of centrality entirely ceases when we 
reach that point, which is on the extreme verge of the 
great Western valley, and at the greatest possible distance 
from important portions of the frontier. The obstruction 
of the navigation by ice continues longer, by at least two 
months in the year, than in the downward navigation from 
Cincinnati, and the interruption by low water in the sum- 
mer is even greater, in the comparison between the two 
places. The same comparison holds good in regard to 
all canals, and other communication by water, with these 
places. The difference of the direct distance to Lake 
Erie is but small; and the actual distance to be traveled, 
by any communication now existing or in contemplation, 
is about the same ; leaving them no advantages for trans- 
portation to the northern frontier to counterbalance the 
serious objections to their position in relation to the south 
and west. 

The objection of remoteness from navigation and busi- 
ness applies equally to all places which are interior as 



CINCINNATI. 275 

respects the Ohio and Mississippi, or which are situated 
high up the tributaries of those rivers. As we recede 
from the great arteries of commerce, we find the distance 
and difficulties of transportation increased, the supply of 
workmen and materials more precarious, and the facilities 
for the transaction of business greatly reduced. 

We suppose, also, that the government, in proposing 
the establishment of a western armory, is actuated by a 
double motive. 1st, By the obvious propriety, as a matter 
of economy and convenience, of manufacturing arms 
within the district of country in which they are to be 
used, so as to avoid the expense and delay of distant trans- 
portation ; and 2d, By a disposition to distribute impar- 
tially the national expenditures, which have heretofore 
been made chiefly in the Atlantic states. These being 
the presumed objects to be kept in view, we suppose that 
the location will be made within one of the Western 
states, and that all other places, however well situated, 
will be thrown out of competition. But we shall, with 
confidence, feel at liberty to claim the advantage of this 
argument, in urging for Cincinnati a preference over any 
other place not possessing superior advantages for manu- 
facturing and distribution, nor being within one of the 
western states. Such is the case in regard to Pittsburgh, 
which, lying within the state of Pennsylvania, has no fair 
claim to a disbursement of the public money intended for 
the benefit of the Western states, and which, we shall also 
show, is less favorably situated for an armory than Cin- 
cinnati. 

It is also worthy of remark that, so far as the govern- 
ment may be actuated by the beneficent policy of making 
this disbursement for the benefit of the Western people, 
Cincinnati affords peculiar advantages for carrying out 



276 CINCINNATI. 

these views. Situated in a corner of Ohio, having Ken- 
tucky within sight, and Indiana within a few miles dis- 
tance, and trading almost equally with these three states, 
they would each derive benefit from having the disburse- 
ment made at this point. The provisions consumed 
would be furnished from all the three states, and the im- 
portant item of iron would be supplied, in nearly equal 
proportions, from Kentucky and Ohio. 

We proceed now to enumerate some of the advantages 
of Cincinnati and its vicinity, 

First. As to the facilities of this place for the manu- 
facture of arras.: — 

It might perhaps be sufficient, under this head, to rely 
upon the general proposition, that Cincinnati is now the 
greatest manufacturing place in the Western country; it 
is not only first in the amount of capital, the number of 
persons employed, and the variety of its mechanical pro- 
ducts, but it is unsurpassed in the excellence of its fabrics 
and in the skill and ingenuity of its workmen. By means 
chiefly of this manufacturing population, and of the un- 
rivaled productiveness of the surrounding countrj?-, a city 
has grown up here within the memory of some of its liv- 
ing inhabitants, which now contains nearly sixty thousand 
souls, and whose wealth, great in proportion to its num- 
bers, is exhibited in its vast business operations, its elegant 
and commodious private dwellings, its fine public edifices, 
its numerous and expensive improvements of every des- 
cription. The millions of property existing here, at a 
spot which was a wilderness but half a century ago, have 
been created by the labor, ingenuity, and enterprise of the 
people; no part of it has grown up under government 
patronage, and but little has been brought here by emi- 
grants. All has been the result of labor judiciously 



CINCINNATI. 277 

applied, by a population originally poor, at a spot combin- 
ing an imusual coincidence of natural advantages; and the 
object of this brief statement is, not to boast of those advan- 
tages, but to present the fair inference, that the same natu- 
ral flicilities for manufacturing purposes which have so 
rapidly promoted individual success, afford the best evi- 
dence of the suitability of the spot for similar operations 
on the part of the government. No argument a priori 
can be half so satisfactory as the results of actual experi- 
ment; nor can the government derive from any investi- 
gation, however able, information so conclusive, as the 
great volume of facts which so prominently attest our 
prosperity, and so plainly indicate its causes. 

We proceed now to inquire into the several points, 
which are considered of primary importance in the selec- 
tion of a site for an armory. 

1. — As to the water power. Some misapprehension 
seems to have prevailed, in regard to the amount of power 
required for an armory; and claims have been set up for 
places not otherwise conspicuous in consequence of their 
possessing this requisite to an extent greater than is ne- 
cessary. We have had access to the best information on 
this subject, as our city contains many large founderies, 
and establishments for constructing engines and machinery 
of every description, some of which employ from one to 
two hundred hands each. Their work is similar in kind 
to that done at an armory, and a portion of it, such for 
instance as the boring of large cylinders for steam engines, 
requires as great power as ever would be used at an 
armory. Yet the motive power requisite for such work 
is small, and forms an inconsiderable item in the expenses. 
We have also examined a valuable report, made in January 
1825, by Col. McRee, and Lieut. Col. Lee, and Capt. 



278 CINCINNATI. 

Talcott, commissioners appointed by the government, to 
examine sites for a Western armory. Assuming the 
armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, which then worked 
two hundred and fifty hands, as the model, they estimate 
the desired water power as equal to that which would pro- 
pel twelve pair of mill-stones of five feet diameter, but in- 
timate an opinion that this would be a liberal allowance. 
Some of our most experienced mechanists here suppose 
that half that power would be abundant, judging from 
what they actually use in similar work. Perhaps the im- 
provements in machinery in the last seventeen years may 
account for this discrepancy. But taking the higher esti. 
mate, that of the commissioners, we can furnish from the 
Whitewater canal, which will be completed within the 
present year, all the power that would be required. This 
canal extends from Cambridge city, on the National road, 
in Wayne county, Indiana, to Lawrenceburg, on the Ohio, 
in the same state. Under a charter from Ohio, a canal, 
uniting with that of Indiana, has been cut from White- 
water to Cincinnati, a distance of twenty-five miles, which 
passes North Bend, one of the points examined by the 
commissioners above mentioned. In their report. North 
Bend is favorably mentioned, in comparision with the 
same places which are now prominently presented in com- 
petition for the armory, although among the estimated ex- 
pense of the erection, was included that of bringing the 
water to North Bend, from a distance necessary to give 
the required head, which would have been about $250,000, 
but which has now been done by the construction of the 
Whitewater canal. This power, which is as yet wholly 
unappropriated, is sufficient to run ninety pair of mill- 
stones of four and a half feet diameter, or double that 



CINCINNATI. 279 

number, should an increase be needed, by an additional 
expenditure of about $60,000. 

The surface of the water in the Whitewater canal will 
be fifty-four feet above the low water of the Ohio. The 
annual rises of the Ohio at this point are estimated at 
from thirty-five to forty-five, feet, and the continuance of 
the water at the highest point is very brief — usually but 
three or four days. The interruption from the ordinary 
freshets occurs so seldom, and is of so short duration, as 
to be considered of no importance. The great rise of 
1832 attained the height of sixty feet, but no similar rise 
had occured before that time since the year 1795, when 
the high water attained an elevation of about fifty-four 
feet; and the Indians spoke of an extraordinary rise at an 
anterior, but distant date. These remarkable freshets, 
caused by very rare combinations of atmospherical phe- 
nomena, appear to occur at intervals of from forty to forty- 
five years. Their effects are by no means destructive to 
permanent buildings, as the velocity of the stream is con- 
fined to the natural channel, and the portions" of water 
which overflow the land have little or no perceptible cur- 
rent. We mention this as the only inconvenience attend- 
ing the location on this canal ; but it will be found to exist 
at every other site having similar advantages for naviga- 
tion, and we consider it but slight in itself, and greatly 
overbalanced by the superior advantages of Cincinnati in 
other respects. 

A gentleman* of great scientific attainments and accu- 
racy of research, who investigated this subject carefully 
in 1832, in reference to the great rise of that year, sup- 
poses that these extraordinary freshets do not occur more 

*Dr. Locke. 



280 CINCINNATI. 

frequently than once in fifty years. It is worthy of con- 
sideration, whether the annual floods of the Ohio will 
not probably be gradually decreased by the removal of 
obstructions from its channel, and also by the clearing of 
the country, and the consequent increase of evaporation. 

It is to be remarked, that the above estimates apply to 
a location on the Whitewater canal at Cincinnati, and 
that the danger of interruption from high water would 
become less, as we recede from the city towards North 
Bend. The canal having a descent of one inch per mile, 
there would be fifteen inches of elevation gained by pla- 
cing the armory at the latter place, and the river having 
a descent of from three to four feet between the same 
points, the whole gain, as between the surface of the ca- 
nal, and the low water mark of the river, would be about 
five feet. The elevation of the canal there would be fifty- 
nine feet, and the highest ordinary rises being forty-five 
feet, there would be fourteen feet of water power left above 
such rises. The result is, that at Cincinnati a wheel of 
nine feet diameter, which we suppose would be sufficient, 
or at North Bend, a wheel of fourteen feet, would never 
be interrupted, except by the extraordinary freshets; at 
North Bend the buildings placed on the ground would 
be never incommoded by high water, and at Cincinnati 
they could be protected from that inconvenience by a base- 
ment of three or four feet. 

An important recommendation of the Whitewater ca- 
nal is found in the fact, that the water power is distributed 
along the last level of the canal which reaches from North 
Bend to Cincinnati, a distance of fifteen miles, so that a 
location may be chosen for these works, either in the city, 
or at North Bend, or at any intervening point, which may 
be considered preferable. This option of a city, or country 



CINCINNATI. 281 

location, or of a spot combining the advantages of both, 
is considered as deserving the special attention of the 
government. 

If, however, a site within the city be considered desi- 
rable, it can be procured, entirely above the highest rise 
of water, in an eligible situation, with a power from the 
Miami canal sufficient to run six pair of five feet mill- 
stones. 

2. As to the resources of this place, in iron, coal, and 
other materials. 

The iron of the region embracing the mouth of the 
Scioto, and extending on both sides of the Ohio, for fifty 
miles, is superior in quality, for making the finer descrip- 
tion of castings, to any in the United States. It is unsur- 
passed by any metal, known to the most experienced 
manufacturers who have used it, and we risk little in as- 
serting that it must be used at the national armory, where- 
ever it may be established. It is now carried to Pitts- 
burgh in large quantities, and has been substituted for the 
iron of that region, in all work that requires the best 
quality of metal. Whether the contemplated armory be 
established at Pittsburgh or at Cincinnati, it would ne- 
cessarily be resorted to, as the best, and indeed, the only 
suitable metal to be had at either place ; and the difference 
between the two places would be, that to the former place 
it would be carried against the current of the Ohio, five 
hundred miles, while to the latter it would be floated with 
the current one hundred and twenty to one hundred and 
fifty miles. The actual difi^erence in the price of this ar- 
ticle is usually about $4 in favor of Cincinnati ; when the 
navigation is interrupted by low water or ice, it is greater ; 
and at the date of this report this description of pig metal 
is selling here at $25 per ton, when it is quoted at Pitts- 
24 



282 CINCINNATI. 

burgh at $31 to $33. Placing the difference at $4 per 
ton, which is the lowest estimate, there is an advantage of 
nearly one-sixth, as between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, 
in favor of the former, in the price of the most expensive 
article used in the manufacture of arms. 

In the article of malleable bar iron, Pittsburgh has 
heretofore stood unrivaled, the Juniata iron having been 
decidedly preferable to any other ; but the bar iron now 
manufactured from the Scioto or French Grant metal, is in 
all respects fully equal to that made from the Juniata ore, 
and can be supplied here in any desired quantity, at the 
same price at which the Juniata iron can be afforded at 
Pittsburgh. 

With regard to both pig and bar iron, the supply at 
this point is abundant and exhaustible. There are now, in 
the French Grant and the adjacent region in Kentucky, 
twenty-seven furnaces, furnishing one hundred tons of 
metal per day, and any possible increase of demand will 
no doubt be met by a corresponding addition to the means 
of bringing the ore into marketable form. 

Th6 next important article is coal. The kind which is 
used for working iron, both here and at Pittsburgh, is the 
coal of the Monongahela ; no other coal is so suitable for 
such work. It is supplied to the manufactories here at an 
average of nine cents per bushel, and to those of Pitts- 
burgh at four and a half cents, and as this article has been 
supposed to. be of primary importance, a preference has 
been claimed for Pittsburgh, on account of its greater 
cheapness at that place. But this view is founded in error. 
One ton of coal is required to work one ton of iron. A 
bushel of coal weighs seventy-eight lbs.: a ton of coal 
therefore is twenty-five and two-thirds bushels, which at 



CINCONATI. 283 

nine cents per bushel would be $2 31, and at four and a 
half cents would be $1 ISf 

The question then, as between those places, would stand 
thus: 

At Cincinnati there would be a saving in the cost 
of the pig metal of - - - - $4 00 per ton. 

At Pittsburgh there would be saved on coal - 1 15j^ 



Making a difference in favor of Cincinnati, on 
each ton of iron used, of - - - $2 84^^ 

We have also other sources for the supply of these es- 
sential articles. The state of Kentucky is now carrying 
on an improvement of the navigation of Licking river, 
which empties into the Ohio, opposite this city, by means 
of which that stream will be made navigable by dams and 
locks, for two hundred and thirty-one miles from its mouth. 
The completion of this work may be speedily looked for; 
five locks are under contract, and nearly completed, which 
will carry the navigation fifty-one miles into Kentucky ; 
and the remainder of the work will probably be pushed 
forward to an early termination. The region penetrated 
by this work is rich in iron and coal. Iron is found in 
large quantities on the banks of this stream one hundred 
and forty miles from its mouth ; and inexhaustible beds 
lie higher up. Furnaces and forges have been at work 
for a number of years ; some of the iron, which has been 
brought to this city, has been found to be of excellent 
quality ; of this there are two kinds, one of which is a 
very superior article, similar in kind to the French Grant 
iron, and fully equal to it. The coal is also abundant and 
of good quality. 

Of the various other articles used at an armory, such 
as black walnut wood for gun stocks, charcoal, linseed 
oil, paper, &c., it will be seen that all these are among 



284 CINCINNATI. 

the staple products of our soil or manufactures; and the 
inference is fair that a regular supply, at moderate prices, 
may be depended upon. 

3. Of the facilities which may he afforded by Cincinnati 
as a large manufacturing city. 

We have already stated the fact, that this is a "large 
manufacturing city, having now in successful operation, a 
great number and variety of manufactories, employing a 
numerous body of well trained, skilful, and ingenious 
workmen. This advantage is so obvious, that it need 
hardly be urged, farther than to establish the facts upon 
which it is asserted: 

By the census of 1840, it appears that the manufactures 
of Cincinnati amount to the annual value of $14,54 1,842 ; 
but by a more detailed statement made since by Mr. 
Charles Cist, in a work entitled "Cincinnati in 1841," 
those manufactures, and the number of citizens employed 
in them, are specified, with as much accuracy as is proba- 
bly attainable, as follows : — ■ 

Manufactures. No.ofworJcmen. Annual value. 

Wood principally or wholly, - 1,557 $2,222,857 
Iron, > _ - 

Other metals, - 
Leather, entirely or principally 
Hair, bristles, &c., 
Cotton, wool, linen and hemp, 
Drugs, paints, chemicals, &c., 
Brick, earthen ware, stone, &c., 
Paper, - - - - 

Provisions, - - - 

Science and the fine arts, 
Buildings, - - - 

Miscellaneous, - 

Total, 10,647 $17,432,670 



1,250 


1,728,549 


461 


658,040 


888 


1,068,700 


198 


366,400 


359 


411,190 


114 


458,250 


301 


238,300 


512 


669,600 


1,567 


5,269,627 


139 


179,100 


1,568 


953,267 


1,733 


3,208,790 



CINCINNATI. 285 

■ The foregoing is the general aggregate, showing the 
number of persons now employed in our manufactories 
and mechanical business and arts, to be ten thousand six 
hundred and forty-seven, and the annual value of our pro- 
ducts to be $17,432,670. 

It will also be seen, that these products embrace almost 
every variety of mechanical labor and ingenuity known 
to our country; and when it is considered how much 
every division of mechanical industry is dependent on 
kindred branches, it will be seen that this is no unimportant 
recommendation. However complete a government ar- 
mory may be, and however numerous the branches of art 
it may embrace, it will not always be prepared for the 
construction of every article that may be needed, and 
resort must sometimes be had to private establishments. 
At Cincinnati, this kind of assistance can be well sup- 
plied, as there is no art or branch of art, which may be 
required in the public work, that is not prosecuted here. 

On the great principle of division labor, so successfully 
practised in England, another important suggestion pre- 
sents itself, namely, the economy and the perfection of 
workmanship which would be attained, by procuring, by 
contract from individuals and private establishments, the 
separate parts of many of the articles fabricated at an 
armory, and putting them together at the public workshop. 
The variety of branches of art carried on here, the per- 
fection they have attained, and the great number workmen 
engaged in them, would yield facilities for the minutest 
subdivision of labor that might be desirable, and for a 
competition that would bring the labor to its minimum 
price; while the patronage, thus extended by the govern- 
ment to private enterprise, would stimulate its energies, 



286 CINCINNATI. 

and greatly tend to enlist the favor of the public towards 
the operations of the government. 

It is also a fact, that our manufactured articles are of 
superior quality. It was long since discovered, that if the 
products of our workshops were only equal in workman- 
ship to those of the Atlantic states, from which all our 
supplies had been drawn, we could not compete with them 
successfully, as they had the advantage of an established 
reputation, and consequently of a settled public opinion 
in their favor. It became necessary to excel them; and 
to this end the energies of our mechanics and manufac- 
turers were judiciously exerted. The best materials 
were brought into use, the most approved inventions, 
and the most skilful workmen, were imported from the 
eastern factories, and a systematic effort was employed to 
produce the finest specimens of art. So successful have 
been these endeavors, that many branches of art have been 
brought to the highest degree of perfection, and the 
eastern articles which had competed with ours have been 
driven from the market. The ambition to excel, and the 
conviction that by excelling only we could establish and 
sustain a high character as a manufacturing place, have 
pervaded all our workshops, and have raised up that 
efficient body of intelligent and well trained mechanics, 
of which we are justly proud. 

In placing their armory here, the government would 
secure the benefit of all the skill and experience which 
have been collected by private enterprise ; and they would 
be certain in any emergency, occasioned by the loss of 
workmen, or by the necessity of increasing their working 
force, of being able to procure the best artizans for any 
branch of work. And it is also worthy of consideration, 
that the sciences, as connected with the useful arts, have 



CINCINNATI. 287 

been extensively cultivated here ; and tiiat in addition to an 
admirable system of public schools, there are institutions 
fostered here for the special instruction of young mechanics. 

The completeness of the machinery in many of our 
workshops is but imperfectly known, even among our- 
selves ; but the subject is one vi^hich, to do it justice, requires 
greater minuteness of description than is attainable in a 
brief report. There are branches of arts which can only 
be carried on successfully by the aid of complicated ma- 
chinery of great power and accuracy. Such machinery 
is seldom the result of a first attempt, because much of its 
success depends upon the climate, the quality of the mate- 
rial composing it, and other circumstances which vary in 
different places. Its perfection here has been attained by 
repeated and persevering experiment, and there is now 
scarcely any mechanical process, however difficult, which 
cannot be effected by our excellent and powerful engines. 

All these considerations give to Cincinnati very decided 
advantages for manufacturing over anyplace at which the 
mechanic arts are not in operation, or where they are pur- 
sued upon a narrower scale. 

4. The advantages of Cincinnati on account of the 
facilities of access by land omd water ; its salubrity at all 
seasons ; the cheapness and abundance of all the necessa- 
ries of life ; and its numerous facilities for the transaction 
of business. 

As the first of these points will be included under our 
observations in regard to the transportation of materials and 
arms, we shall touch it here but briefly. It is obviously 
desirable that the armory should be at a point central and 
easily accessible from various directions, and possessing 
facilities for the conveyance of mails and passengers. 
These conveniences would greatly expedite the transaction 



288 CINCINNATI. 

of business at all times, but during the existence of a war 
they would be indispensable. The success of an impor- 
tant military movement, or even of a campaign, might 
depend on the rapid conveyance of intelligence between 
the depots of arms and the army to be supplied. 

In this particular Cinninnati presents unrivaled advan- 
tages. Our mails are now carried to Baltimore and other 
eastern cities by a connected chain of railroads and ma- 
cadamised turnpikes, so that the mail from Baltimore 
reaches us in three and a half days, and the improvememts 
in progress, by increasing the proportion of railroad convey- 
ance, will in a few years greatly shorten even this rapid 
transit of intelligence. The completion of the Little Miami 
railroad, from Cincinnati to the intersection of the Cumber- 
land road at Springfield, has shortened the time by several 
hours. The same road will be completed to Sandusky this 
summer, and will thus open a rapid communication with 
the northern frontier. A fine turnpike, in a state of rapid 
progress between this place and Lexington, Kentucky, 
and more than two-thirds of which is done, will unite there 
with the great road from Maysville to Nashville, and there 
are in all one thousand one hundred and twenty-five miles 
of canals, railroads and turnpikes, branching off from 
Cincinnati in every direction; besides which the Ohio and 
and Mississippi, with their tributaries, furnish highways 
Avhich extend throughout the west and south, and the ac- 
tive enterprise of our citizens, keeping pace with the latest 
improvements in machinery and ship building, has im- 
proved these facilities by the construction of fast steam- 
boats, and particularly of a small class of boats, which 
pursue the downward navigation throughout the whole of 
the low water of ordinary years. 

The healthiness of Cincinnati and its vicinity, at all 



CINCINNATI. 289 

seasons, is unsurpassed ; in the summer and fall we are 
entirely exempt from the epidemics which prevail at more 
southern locations. 

In selecting the locality for an establishment at which 
a considerable number of workmen, with their families, 
will be collected, the facilities for procuring the various 
articles of food form an important consideration. In this 
respect Cincinnati stands unrivaled; it is the largest pro- 
vision market in the United States. It will be seen, from 
the subjoined tables, referred to above, that the various ar- 
ticles of food manufactured and prepared for market at 
this place amount, annually, to $5,269,626. 

From data, procured at the collector's office of the Miami 
canal, we have ascertained the quantity of a few of the 
principal articles of produce brought to Cincinnati in the 
year 1840; and from dealers in those articles an estimate 
of the quantity arrived by wagons, chiefly from the same 
valley, which are as follow : 

Flour by canal, 165,762 bbls., 

'? « wagons, 40,000—205,762 at $3 50 - 720,167 
Whisky by canal, 74,026 bbls., 

"wagons, 7,400— 81,426 at $7 per bbl,, - 569,982 

Pork by canal, 17,687 bbls. at $12 per bbl., - 212,224 

787 hhds. at $40 per hhd. - 31,480 

2,192,160 lbs. in bulk, at 5 cents, - 109,608 

Beef, by canal, 865 bbls. at $10 per lb., - - 8,650 

« 12,138 lbs. at 5 cents per lb., - 606 

Lard, by canal, 20,638 kegs at $3 per keg, - 61,914 

Pork, lard and beef, by wagons, - - - 1,000,000 

Corn and oats, by canal and wagons, - - 300,000 
The receipts of the same articles through the Ports- 
mouth canal, from the 1st December, 1840, to the 
1st October, 1841, as ascertained from the collector's 

office, amount in value, at the above prices, to - 734,890 



25 



290 CINCINNATI. 

Add l-6th for the unexpired 2 months of the year, - 122,481 
Add articles of food, as above, - - - 5,269,626 



Total, - - - $9,141,629 

The completion of the Whitewater canal, within this 
year, will bring to this market the produce of four hundred 
square miles of the most productive counties of Indiana, 
which, compared with the territory drained by the Miami 
canal, is as twenty-five to eighteen in favor of the White- 
water canal. The Miami valley is the oldest and best 
settled, but the difference in this respect is daily decreas- 
ing; and as the provisions received by the Miami canal 
greatly exceed $1,000,000, it will be a moderate estimate 
to set down those which will be received by the White- 
water canal at the annual value of $1,000,000. 

And if to this be added a variety of small articles, 
which are known to form an immense aggregate, but of 
which the particulars cannot be obtained, such as potatoes, 
and other vegetables, poultry, butter, eggs, cheese, apples 
and dried fruit; and also the further increase by the Lex- 
ington turnpike and Licking river improvement when 
completed, another $1,000,000 may be safely computed; 
and the whole amount of provisions, brought here for sale 
or shipment, will be found to be at least $11,000,000 an- 
nually, which at the present value of the army ration 
would provision an army of more than one hundred and 
fift}?- thousand men throughout the year. So that this city- 
alone can furnish the provisions for any number of troops 
which this government will ever be obliged to maintain 
in a war with the greatest power of Europe. 

The various facilities for business at this point may be 
inferred from the activity and magnitude of its operations. 
An economical government, desiring to attain its ends by 
the cheapest means which are consistent with their most 



CINCINNATI. 29 1 

perfect accomplishment, should avail itself of all the 
facilities which nature aided by private enterprise has ac- 
cumulated, at a spot happily situated for the purposes in 
view, and thus avoid unnecessary expenditures for over- 
coming natural obstacles, and creating the artificial advan- 
tages which attend the established relations of business. 
Business cannot be forced easily out of its regular chan- 
nels, and in making the attempt, the government would 
pay an extravagant premium for a purpose not desirable in 
itself. They will find here, in complete operation, all the 
institutions of social order, and all the ramifications of 
well organised business, of some of which they would at 
other places be and remain destitute, while others they 
would be compelled to create, perhaps imperfectly, at an 
inordinate expense. 

A republican government, looking to the good of all 
its citizens, however humble, should have a care for the 
comfort, the prosperity, and the morals, of those who are 
in its employ. Of the two hundred and fifty workmen 
collected at this armory, many will have families, making 
an aggregate of not less probably than one thousand souls, 
whose social condition will be seriously affected by the 
choice of the location. It would be a pernicious and anti- 
republican policy, which, to benefit a favored section of 
country, or to secure a non-essential advantage to the gov- 
ernment, should place all these individuals at a spot where 
they would be deprived of health, of a cheap and com- 
fortable subsistence, of the advantages of society, or of 
the means of education and religious instruction. We 
offer them all these; for it is to the existence of all these, 
that we owe the continual influx of a valuable population 
of the working class. They will find a community of me- 
chanics, and a system of institutions built up by the labors 



292 CINCINNATI. 

of this class of citizens, and adapted especially for their 
benefit. At most of the places spoken of, south of this 
location, the mechanic arts have been but little encouraged, 
labor is not respected, and the condition of the working 
man is not so comfortable as it is with us. Our temper- 
ate latitude ensures a favorable medium of temperature 
for labor, and for health. Our abundant markets, and 
numerous workshops, supply food, clothing, furniture — 
all the necessaries and many of the luxuries of life, at 
a cost within the reach of the mechanic. The many 
useful and liberal institutions established here, in which 
mechanics bear a part, give employment to their leisure 
hours, and elevate them to their proper standing in society. 

Another important advantage to the mechanic here, 
consists in the variety of arts and professions carried on 
at this point, which affords to a family of several individ- 
uals, following different branches of business, the opportu- 
nity of finding employment, at the same place. The 
father of a numerous family may consult the disposition 
and capacity of each, and train them all up to different 
callings, without being forced into the painful and de- 
moralizing necessity of breaking up the family circle. 

Our city offers a further inducement, which, other 
things being equal, should give it a decided preference 
over other places not possessing the same important in- 
stitution. We have a system of common schools, sus- 
tained by taxation, at an annual expense of $25,000, 
employing sixty-nine* teachers, and offering gratuitous 
instruction to all the children between the ages of six and 
sixteen years, residing within the school districts. Nine 

*The official report' for June, 1847, shows that the number of 
teachers has been increased, since the above was written, to ninety- 



CINCINNATI. 293 

spacious and well constructed brick edifices, built for the 
purpose, in different parts of the city, accommodate these 
schools, in which solid instruction is given in all the 
branches of an ordinary English education, by faithful 
teachers, under the supervision of efficient boards of ex- 
amination and inspection. The means of instruction are 
not only ample, but well administered, the schools are 
fully equal to the best private schools of the same grade, 
and furnish all the education that is desirable, and in most 
cases attainable, for the common purposes of life. They 
have to a great extent superseded the private schools; there 
are however a number of the latter, much improved by 
the competition of the public schools, and which, with 
two excellent colleges, complete our admirable facilities 
for education. 

Second. The next general subject to which the attention 
of the committee has been directed, has reference to the 
geographical position of Cincinnati, and the facilities 
which it affords for the distribution of arms. 

In the report of Col. McRee and others, already re- 
ferred to, we find that the advantages for distributing arms 
are considered as of minor importance. The commis- 
sioners say: — 

" We do not perceive any reasons, of a military nature, 
that can materially affect the relative value of different 
sites, in consequence of their respective distances from the 
points at which the consumption of arms would probably 
occur in time of war. 

" To consider the relations of an armory in the same 

seven, and the number of public school houses to twelve, while 
the aggregate salary of the teachers is $26,517 50. The number 
of pupils enrolled in that year were ten thousand one hundred 
and twenty. 



294 CINCINNATI. 

light with those of a magazine or arsenal, would be an 
error ; the means of production being the principal requi- 
site for the one, and those of conveyance for the other." 

This opinion is certainly entitled to great respect; and 
we should not object to its adoption in its fullest extent, 
for if the means of production be considered as alone im- 
portant, Cincinnati would stand without a rival, as we 
have here the facilities for mechanical production, both 
natural and artificial, ascertained and developed to the 
utmost extent. But if it be meant that the facilities for 
distribution are of secondary importance, when compared 
for those of manufacturing, we shall not dissent from the 
proposition, but shall proceed to vindicate the superiority 
of our position in this respect also. 

The primary purpose of an armory is to manufacture 
arras; but the transportation of them to the points at 
which they would probably be required is also important ; 
and when these advantages can be combined, we conceive 
that neiiher of them should be overlooked. 

The superior facilities of Cincinnati, for forwarding 
arms in opposite directions, would be important in obvia- 
ting, to some extent, the necessity of having depots at 
points nearer to the seat of war, and more exposed to 
danger. If the transportation to the lake shore can be 
effected in twenty-four hours, a depot nearer to that fron- 
tier would hardly be considered necessary ; the supplies 
could be renewed from time to time whenever required ; 
and damaged arms could be returned for repair; while if 
a longer time was to be consumed in reaching the seat of 
war, there would be a greater expenditure of time and 
money; the supply would be slower and less certain, and 
the danger of failure in a critical emergency would be 
increased. 



CINCINNATI. 295 

A glance at the map will show the central position of 
this city, in regard to the frontiers which must be supplied 
from a western armory. The most important of these is 
the frontier dividing this country from the possessions of 
Great Britain. Of the great lakes which separate Upper 
Canada from the Western states and territories, Lake 
Erie is the most southern, bounding a portion of Ohio, 
and approaching to within two hundred miles of Cincin- 
nati on a direct line ; while beyond this state, to the east 
or west, the' boundary recedes to the north. On the other 
hand, the Ohio river, after running south west for about 
two-thirds the distance between its head and Cincinnati, 
suddenly changes its course to the north west, and con- 
tinues that direction until it passes North Bend, when it 
again turns to the south. Thus, after descending the Ohio 
six hundred miles, and passing its shoalest water, we are, 
here, in consequence of the southward curve of the fron- 
tier line, and the northward bend of the river, brought to 
within two hundred miles of the frontier, while there is 
no eligible point for an armory on the same river further 
up, which lies nearer to that line; nor is there any point, 
above or below, by which it can be so easily reached. 

As we recede south or west from Cincinnati, the access 
to the northern line is rendered more difficult, and the 
disadvantages of an ascending navigation and of trans- 
shipment incurred; and there is no point north of this 
place affording equal facilities for navigation to the south 
and west. From Pittsburgh, or any place in that region, 
the navigation of the Ohio is suspended by low water, 
during the summer and part of the autumn of every year, 
while from Cincinnati, the interruption from this cause is 
only occasional, and then for short periods. Having- 
reached Cincinnati, no advantage would be gained for 



296 CINCINNATI. 

downward navigation, by selecting a site lower down, 
because, when boats can get out of the Ohio from any- 
place above the mouth of Cumberland, they can also 
get out from Cincinnati. During the present season, for 
instance, when the river has been as low as usual, and 
within four inches of the lowest state known in the most 
unfavorable season, the smaller class of steamboats have 
continued to run downwards without cessation, while the 
communication with Pittsburgh has been entirely cut off. 

The obstruction of the navigation by ice* commences 
earlier, continues later, and occurs more frequently, at 
Pittsburgh than at Cincinnati; giving to ns an advantage 
of six to eight weeks more of navigation in the course of 
each winter. This objection applies to all the canals and 
other communications by water, and also to the use of 
water for power, and affords an insuperable reason against 
the selection of a place in that latitude. The difference 
of one and a half degrees of latitude, and of an elevation 
equal to at least one degree of latitude, together with the 
vicinity, of the head waters of the Ohio to the cold region 
of the mountains, sufficiently indicate the causes why the 
temperature must be so much lower than ours, as to pro- 
duce the effects we have stated; and the fact, that the lar- 
gest portion of the tributary streams of the Ohio enter it 
from the south, affords reason for presuming a still greater 
difference in the temperature of the water and the forma- 
tion of ice. 

It is one of the peculiar recommendations of this spot, 
that while we are far enough from the frontier to be en- 
tirely secure from the possibility of danger from the ene- 
my, we are near enough for the purpose of affording sup- 
plies; and that while protected by distance and by a large 
interposing population, the great resources of Ohio and 



CINCINNATI. 297 

the energy of its people are daily adding to its facilities 
for intercommunication. The channels which commerce 
is continually opening and improving; for the transporta- 
tion of the immense products of our soil and industry, 
will always be amply sufficient for the government, in 
peace or war. 

The communication between this place and Lake Erie 
is now open, by means of the Ohio river, and the canal 
from Portsmouth to Cleveland ; the distance by this route 
is four hundred and twenty miles. 

The Miami canal is completed to the junction of the Mau- 
mee and Auglaise, where it intersects the Lake Erie and 
Wabash canal, — connecting thence by the Maumee river 
with Lake Erie, by a route of two hundred and fifty miles, 
and connecting with the Wabash by canal. 

Besides affording a direct and cheap conveyance for 
heavy freight to the lake ; this canal has become a very 
important thoroughfare for the interchange of commodi- 
ties with the valley of the Wabash. 

The Little Miami railroad is completed to Springfield, 
eighty-four miles from Cincinnati, fourteen miles only 
remain to be made of the Mad river railroad to Urbana, 
from which place the road is complete to Sandusky. The 
completion of this work will afford the means of trans- 
porting arms from this place to the lake in twenty-four 
hours. We come then to the conclusion : 

I. That in regard to the supply of metal and other ma- 
terials, and of workmen — the facilities for manufacturing 
— the climate, health, subsistence, domestic comforts, and 
social advantages — Cincinnati presents a combination of 
favorable circumstances which places her far above com- 
petition. If some of these advantages exist elsewhere, 
there is no other place at which they are all united. 



298 CINCINNATI. 

2. The water power is sufficient, 

3. That for conveyance and distribution, the advantages 
of Cincinnati are equal to those of any other place, supe- 
rior to those of most places. 

If, to an establishment for the fabrication of small arms, 
it should be contemplated to add a foundry for cannon, all 
the above facts and arguments would apply more forcibly 
in our favor, as the quantity of iron required, and the 
weight of transportation, would be greatly increased ; and 
our metal is peculiarly adapted for that purpose. The 
castings made from the French Grant iron have a supe- 
rior lightness and tenacity, with a smoothness and polish 
which recommend it as an uncommonly excellent material 
for cannon. 

In the report of Col. McRee and others, before referred 
to, we find our views fully corroborated. They say, 
speaking of North Bend: 

" This site offers, in several respects, peculiar advan- 
tages. The extent and fertility of the adjacent country, 
and it's proximity to Cincinnati will assure to it a plentiful 
supply of provisions, and the command of all necessary 
supplies of materials and labor. 

" The navigation of the Ohio is free from many of 
the impediments which exist at higher points. The 
health of the place is comparatively good ; and the vol- 
ume of water afforded by the Miami, at its lowest stage, 
is abundant." 

These remarks were made seventeen years ago, when 
the resources of this vicinity were but partially developed. 
The vast area of fertile country, of which it is the centre, 
its national facilities for trade and navigation, and its latent 
water power, were sufficiently obvious; but its extensive 
manufactories, its artificial communications with distant 



CINCINNATI. 299 

points, and the water power of the canals, have since been 
added. Since then the population of Cincinnati has been 
quadrupled, and the increase of its wealth, mechanical 
energies, and commerce, has been still greater. 

In another respect, the change produced by a few years 
is remarkable. The commissioners assume that the Ju- 
niata iron and the coal of Pittsburgh, must be used at the 
armory, wherever situated; and in all their estimates, 
they give to Pittsburgh the important advantage of fur- 
nishing these articles, while to all other places the cost of 
the freight of these articles is added. However true this 
was in 1824, it is so no longer. Pittsburgh has ceased to 
be the great emporium of iron. A richer metal has been 
found in our vicinity, in beds of inexhaustible magnitude, 
and we now supply to Pittsburgh not only that material, 
but a large portion of the provisions which feed her 
laborers. 

We close with the remark that, in case of a war with 
Great Britain, Ohio will form an important member of 
the United States. Her frontier will be exposed; her 
population of one million and a half will stand in the 
front rank of danger. Self defence will oblige her citi- 
zens to stand forth in protection of the national liberty and 
honor. The government must look to us for men and 
provisions. Our firesides, our soil, and our workshops, 
must furnish the sinews of war. Those rich resources 
and great energies, which have fed the streams of our 
commerce and manufactures, will furnish abundant stores 
for the sustenance of troops and navies. If the commu- 
nications with the frontier are not now sufficiently nume- 
rous and rapid, they will then necessarily and promptly 
be made so, by the public treasure and protection of the 
people. And if it be desirable, as a matter of pride or of 



300 CINCINNATI. 

interest, to have this national establishment among- us, 
Ohio, as the foremost of the Western States in population, 
in resources, and in exposure, has a fair claim to the pre- 
ference. 

In addition to what we have advanced in regard to the 
manufacture of articles of iron, we desire to call attention 
particularly to railroad iron. The benefits of railroads, 
and the profitableness of the stock, have become so obvious, 
that this description of road is now spreading in every di- 
rection. In the West especially, where the level surface of 
the country is so inviting, the distances to be overcome so 
great, the trade and the travel so vast, there seems to be no 
doubt that railroads will be very extensively constructed — 
especially if the government shall persevere in the churlish 
and absurd policy of refusing to improve the rivers. 

The number of railroads already undertaken or pro- 
jected, in the West, is so great, as to show that this form 
of improvement has met with decided favor, and will be 
widely adopted. A vast amount of railroad iron will be 
required, which we should endeavor to make at home, if 
practicable, and we think it would be obviously, not only 
practicable, but profitable, to manufacture it here. 

Three years ago, scarcely .any railroad iron was made 
in the United States — we believe, none ; now it is made at 
not less than thirty different founderies, in several of the 
states, and in large quantities. The fiat bar has been made 
at Cincinnati for the Little Miami, and the Indianopolis and 
Madison railroads; but no establishment here is prepared 
as yet to make the heavy rail. The American railroad 
iron is better than the English, by from $7 to $10 per 
ton;, and the fact, that it is already made at so many dif- 
ferent places, is conclusive that it may be profitably 
manufactured, even with the present protection. In the 



CINCINNATI. 301 

disturbed condition of political affairs in Europe, now ex- 
isting- and which may unhappily long continue, their 
industry must in some degree be paralised, and the com- 
petition with our manufactures rendered less formidable. 

While we are thus enabled to make this article, the de- 
mand for it is rapidly increasing, not only by the making 
of new lines of railroad; but by the necessity which all 
the existing roads which have used the flat rail, are under, 
of discarding that flimsy material, and renewing their 
tracks with the heavy rail. The demand is not Jocal nor 
limited, but extended over the whole United States. The 
eastern factories will find full employment in supplying 
the roads near them ; and we should begin to provide the 
means for meeting our own demand, at home. 

There is no point at which railroad iron could be made, 
at this time, so advantageously as at Cincinnati, The de- 
mand for it here, for immediate use, will be large. The 
Little Miami railroad, now finished to Springfield, and 
the continuation of which to Sandusky will be completed 
by the 1st of June, 1848, will be relaid without delay, 
with the heavy rail: — and such is the immense business 
of the road now, and the rapidity of its increase, that a 
double track will be required to be commenced as soon as 
practicable, A branch of this road from Xenia to Co- 
lumbus, the seat of the state government, has been com- 
menced, and is to be finished within two years; and active 
measures are in operation for extending the road from Co- 
lumbus to Cleveland, There will be a road also con- 
structed, without delay, from Columbus to Pittsburgh, to 
unite with the great central railway from that place to 
Philadelphia — which will be the most direct, and in many 
respects the most eligible, of all the routes between the 
East and West. The Cincinnati and Eelpre railroad, 



302 CINCINNATI. 

a very desirable work, which will leave the Little Miami 
railroad, about forty miles from Cincinnati, and passing 
near Hillsboro', and through Chillicothe, will strike the 
Ohio at Belpre, with a view to a junction with the Bal- 
timore and Ohio railroad. This road is so important to 
all the country lying along it, and to Chillicothe and Cin- 
cinnati, that it will undoubtedly be undertaken without 
delay. The road from Cincinnati to Hamilton is about 
to be commenced, and will be extended thence either to 
Dayton, or Richmond, and thence either north, to the 
lakes, or west, to Indianapolis. A railroad is loudly called 
for, and we think cannot be delayed, on the direct line be- 
tween Cincinnati and St. Louis, by way of Vincennes; 
and there must soon be a railway from Cincinnati to Lex- 
ington. Some of these roads are in progress, all of them 
will be made eventually, and there will be many others 
connecting with them; while there will be others such as 
the Madison and Indianapolis railroad, that will connect 
with us by means of the river. There is now, therefore, 
a demand here, for railroad iron, which must rapidly in- 
crease, and become very large ; and as the freight and car- 
riage of so heavy an article adds materially to the ex- 
pense, it is very desirable that it should be made on the 
spot. 

We have shown that there is no place at which it can 
be made more profitably than this. We have the iron 
and coal of the best quality in abundance, at fair prices; 
and we have shown that our city abounds in facilities for 
manufacturing. 

For the same reasons this will be a very suitable place 
for the manufacture of locomotive engines, and passenger 
and freight cars, for our western railroads. Several fine 
locomotives have already been constructed for the Little 



CINCINNATI. 303 

Miami railroad, at the extensive engine shops of Mr. 
Anthony Harkness, in this city, and we hope that here- 
after we shall not import any machinery of this description. 

We have also facilities for the manufacture of cotton 
goods, which cannot fail to invite the attention of .capi- 
talists. We can manufacture here more cheaply than at 
Lowel, and w^e have the further advantage of having our 
fabrics, when made, at the market where, in either case, 
they must be sold. Cotton can be brought here from Ten- 
nessee and Mississippi, as cheaply as it can be taken to 
New Orleans, the freight being lower for the ascending 
than for the descending navigation, because there is less 
of it. The eastern manufacturer must pay the commis- 
sion and expenses at New Orleans, which are not moderate, 
the freight and insurance coastwise, and the transportation 
to the place of manufacture, and then he must pay the 
transportation of his fabric to the Western market, to- 
gether with commissions, exchange, &c.; all which we 
save. A careful enumeration of these items of difference, 
shows a saving to the manufacturer here of nine per cent, 
which would of itself be a fair profit. But this is not all ; 
we can make and put up all kinds of machinery as well 
and as cheaply as at any place in the world ; and the 
important items of fuel, house rent, and provisions, are 
cheaper here than at any thriving town on the Atlantic. 
The laborers will follow the work — wherever our cotton 
mills are erected we find hands enough seeking employ- 
ment; and where living is cheap, w^ages cannot be high. 

Cincinnati has lately become a cotton market. Large 
quantities have been brought here from Nashville, Mem- 
phis, Vicksburgh, &c., since the beginning of 1846, and 
sold to manufacturers at this place, Covington and New- 



304 CINCINNATI. 

port, Kentucky, Dayton, Wellsburgh, Wheeling-, Pitts- 
burgh, and even at Rochester, New York. 

In regard to this trade, we find the following remarks 
in the Cincinnati Gazette, of April 7, 1848: 

" The rapid growth and present importance of the 
trade between Cincinnati and Memphis, Tennessee, cannot 
have escaped the notice of any of our more observing 
merchants. But even the}?-, except in cases where they 
have particularly looked into the matter, can have but an 
inadequate idea of the extent with which the manufactures 
generally of this city are purchased for the district of 
country of which Memphis is the commercial inlet. The 
imports of about forty counties in Tennessee, Mississippi 
and Arkansas, reach the hands of the retailers and con- 
sumers through that city ; and among these imports are 
considerable quantities of provisions from this city, and 
very large quantities of our manufactures. Payment for 
these articles comes to us chiefly in the shape of raw cot- 
ton, of which Cincinnati has for the past year or two been 
an important and fast growing market. 

" If properly fostered, this trade may be made one of 
great importance to our city. The merchants of Memphis, 
and planters of the adjacent parts of Tennessee, we are 
well informed, are favorably disposed towards its exten- 
sion; and arrangements are making, we understand, to 
run a semi-weekly line of packets between the two cities, 
during the summer season, when the facilities for transpor- 
tation by New Orleans boats are not so good as in winter 
and spring." 

Heavy articles of groceries, such as sugar, molasses, 
and coffee, are now shipped from this place through the 
canal to Buffalo, and other ports on the lake, and we have 
no doubt that we shall be able to supply all such articles 



CINCINNATI. 305 

to the towns along the shores of the lakes, cheaper than 
they can be had from New York. When the railroad to 
Sandusky shall be completed, the facilities for intercourse 
with the lakes will be greatly increased. 



26 



306 CINCINNATI. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Cincinnati — its resources, credit, and facilities for business. 

The sound and well established credit of Cincinnati, 
and its actual wealth, afford abundant security that its ap- 
parent prosperity is not delusive, but substantial and per- 
manent. The growth of the city, and the increase of its 
business, have been rapidly but steadily progressive. De- 
pendingalmost wholly on its own resources, its growth 
has been healthy, and its condition is sound. 

The founders of Cincinnati were not men of wealth; 
and the early settlers brought with them nothing but 
thrifty qualities and buoyant hopes. They lived economi- 
cally, and suffered many privations with patience, always 
looking forward to the future for their remuneration. 
But though fully aware of the local advantages of their 
position, and of the vast natural resources of the country 
around them, and sanguine in their expectations, it was 
fortunate for them and their posterity that they were not 
able to inspire others with the same bright visions, and 
that, consequently, they did not enjoy a high credit; and 
that spirit of speculation, in which all our countrymen 
are so prone to indulge, did not receive much encourage- 
ment. 

The above remark is intended as a general proposition, 
from which an exception must be made, in reference to a 
disastrous period, commencing about the year 1808, and 



CINCINNATI. 307 

extending to 1818, when several banks having been es- 
tablished with insufficient capital, with an almost unlimi- 
ted power of issue, and without those restrictions which 
experience has since proved so necessary, a short period 
of improvident banking and wild speculation ensued, 
which proved disastrous to the city, and ruinous to all en- 
gaged in it. Cincinnati was then a small place, and these 
events are only important now, in its commercial history, 
from the lesson they impart. Since then, through a pe- 
riod of nearly thirty years, its progress has been as steady 
as it has been rapid, and its business has been as sound as 
it has been prosperous. 

It is a fact, not to he disputed, that this city has suffered 
less than most others, perhaps less than any other, from 
the recent disastrous vicissitudes of business in the United 
States. The mercantile failures have been few and un- 
important, our manufactures have been steadily maintained, 
and the general prosperity of the city has been uninter- 
rupted. 

The calamitous crisis in the monetary affairs of the 
country, which occurred in 1837-8, will long be remem- 
bered by all who were engaged, at that eventful period, 
in mercantile affairs. Intoxicated by a season of pros- 
perity, and stimulated by the unwise prodigality of the 
Bank of the United States, not only the commercial class, 
but the whole people, rushed 'madly into the wildest specu- 
lations. Credit was every where substituted for money ; 
the most magnificent schemes w^ere undertaken, without 
present or prospective resources ; and promises to pay at 
a future time were as improvidently received, as they were 
recklessly made. The extravagant and thoughtless em- 
ployment of credit was not confined to merchants and 
monied institutions, though upon them was cast the odium, 



308 CINCINNATI. 

and upon them chiefly fell the calamitous results that 
flowed from it. States and counties, cities and towns, — 
even churches, benevolent, religious, and literary societies, 
fearlessly issued their bonds, and expended the proceeds 
with a liberal hand. It was the mania of the times — not 
the vice of any political party, or class of society. The 
reaction was violent, and convulsed the whole business 
community. Demagogues, who attain a temporary ele- 
vation at such times, as corrupt substances rise to the sur- 
face in the chemical process of fermentation, exaggerated 
and distorted the evil ; ignorance and prejudice were ap- 
pealed to; and an indiscriminate war upon commerce, 
credit, and banks, brought upon the country years of loss 
and disgrace, and upon thousands of individuals utter ruin. 
Never, in the history of our country, has party spirit raged 
with such ruthless violence; never was its legislation 
marked by so gross a destitution of principle, or so utter 
a disregard of the rights and interests of individuals. 

Throughout the whole of that period of general disas- 
ter, while gloom and bankruptcy pervaded most of the 
commfercial cities, the growth of Cincinnati was progres- 
sive. The number of houses erected, in 1839, was three 
hundred and ninety-four, which was greater than any for- 
mer year; the number in 1840, was four hundred and 
six; and in 1841, it swelled to eight hundred and twenty- 
seven. During the same same period, there were built an- 
nually at this port, about thirty-three steamboats, worth, at 
an average of over $18,000 each, about $600,000. The 
increase of population, and the expenditures for public im- 
provements, have kept pace with these signs of individual 
prosperity. 

The soundness and stability of the business of this city 
may be further shown, by referring to some of its banking 



CINCINNATI. 309 

operations during the period last alluded to. In 1837, 
there were four banks in Cincinnati with each $1,000,000 
of capital, and the Miami Exporting Company with 
$296,225. In May, 1837, the entire resources for business 
of those banks, including in the line of deposits .the 
amount due to the government of the United States, were 
as follows: 

Capital, - .- - - $4,296,225 

Circulation, - - - - 2,422,217 

Deposits, ----- 5,558,844 

Other liabilities, - - - 1,308,372 



Total, - - $13,585,658 

At that time the population of Cincinnati was not more 
than fifty thousand ; the present number of inhabitants is 
not less than one hundred thousand, and the business of 
the city has more than doubled, yet the banking capital 
and resources, under the stringent legislation of our gen- 
eral assembly, in relation to all banks, but especially to- 
wards those of the commercial metropolis of the state, has 
dwindled down, to the aggregate shown by the following 
figures, taken from the report of the auditor of state, for 
May, 1847: 



Capital, . . - - 

Circulation, . . - 
Deposits, _ - _ - 
Other liabilities, - - - 


$1,640,026 

1,037,046 

1,787,836 

- 1,125,300 


Total, 

Recapitulation. 
Banking resources in May, 1837, 
do do in May, 1847, - 


$5,590,208 

$13,585,658 
5,590,208 


Reductions, 


$7,995,450 



Here it will be seen that in the last ten years the mone- 



310 CINCINNATI. 

tary facilities of the city have been reduced by consider- 
ably more than one-half, while the population and business 
has more than doubled. This effect has been produced by 
the disgraceful violence which has marked the contest for 
power between the political parties of the state, both of 
which have proved equally hostile to banks, and alike 
careless of the great interests of commerce ; as in coun- 
tries where anarchy prevails, the weak and peaceful are 
plundered by all who carry weapons. Within the period 
above mentioned, two of our largest banks have gone out 
of existence, their circulation has been taken up, and their 
capitals, two millions of dollars, owned mostly out of the 
state, have been withdrawn. Another important institu- 
tion has been deprived of the power to issue notes, and a 
fourth has found it necessary to diminish its capital. 
Within the same period, the bank of the United States, 
having closed its branch in 1836, has withdrawn the cap- 
ital which had been employed here. Thus in place of an 
incorporated banking capital of $4,296,225, the amount 
now authorised by law is $1,640,026, while the circula- 
tion, deposits, and other resources, are proportionably 
diminished. 

We admit that the banking capital of 1837 w^as some- 
what too large. It was not too great if viewed in pro- 
portion to the amounts similarly employed in other cities, 
and in the country at large, at that time, when there was 
a tendency to exaggeration in the public mind, and in the 
commercial affairs of the whole land ; but it was greater 
than would be authorised by the more sober policy which 
has since prevailed. It is obvious, however, that abundant 
as the banking facilities then were, they were not abused 
to any great or pernicious extent. The banks were 
honestly and safely administered, their facilities fairly 



CINCINNATI. 311 

distributed, and their engagements punctually met — except 
in the single matter of paying specie for their notes, when 
all other banks had, by common consent, suspended pay- 
ment in that form — which was continued however by one 
of the Cincinnati banks. 

But my chief object, in these remarks, is to show the 
soundness of the business done here, and the healthy and 
vigorous nature of our commercial resources. The em- 
ployment of thirteen and a half millions of banking cap- 
ital, in so small a city as Cincinnati, in 1837, would natu- 
rally stimulate business to its utmost limit, and lead to 
overtrading ; and that it did not do so, to a ruinous extent, 
proves that the banks were well and honestly managed, 
and that the natural resources of the city, and its capacity 
for business, were capable of extension, and afforded large 
facilities for the safe employment of money. Both money 
and credit, to be used successfully, must be employed in 
real business transactions, in which, as a general rule, all 
the parties engaged realise profits. If the business be 
fictitious — if it be visionary, leading to no salutary result — 
if it be of a gambling character, depending on uncertain 
chances, or in w^hich the gain made by one party must be 
lost by the other, the general result must be disastrous — 
commercial insolvency and the ruin of banks, must be 
the consequence. 

But in regard to Cincinnati, it is historically true, and 
cannot now be contradicted, that it grew and flourished 
throughout the dangerous prosperity of an inflated currency, 
and abundant credit, and has equally grown and prospered 
under a contracted currency, a withdrawal of foreign capital, 
and an almost unexampled reduction of banking facilities. Is 
it to be inferred hence, that banking institutions are unim- 
portant? We think not; Cincinnati has had the advantage 



312 CINCINNATI. 

of them, throughout the whole period alluded to, and is 
greatly indebted to them for her uninterrupted prosperity, 
and to those who have directed them, for the fairness with 
which they have been adrninistered. Business cannot be 
conducted without money, nor can large monetary con- 
cerns be advantageously carried on without banks. The 
fair inference from the facts is, that the great advantages of 
Cincinnati, in its geographical position, and the vast na- 
tural wealth and abundant resources of the country trad- 
ing with it, furnish the elements of so vigorous a business, 
as to render it somewhat independent of artificial facilities. 
So long as the products of a vast region, of unrivaled 
fertility, flow here for sale, as to a common centre, by an 
attraction almost as strong and as natural as that of gravi- 
tation, money will come to purchase it. The want of 
banks would not separate the parties, whose mutual wishes 
and interests would bring them together, but it w^ould 
render their intercourse less convenient and less profitable. 
The proposition, which we have attempted to sustain, 
may be more concisely and more conclusively supported 
by the following exhibit of the maximum and minimum 
circtilations of our banks, for one year : 

MAXIMUM. 

Ohio L. Ins. & T. Co., - Dec. 31, 1838, $967,915 

Franklin Bank, - - Jan. 3, 1839, 603,637 

Fafayette Bank, - Jan. 17, 1839, 576,111 

Commercial Bank, - - Feb. 18, 1839, 1,599,261 



Total, 


MINIMUM. 


$3,746,924 


Ohio L. Ins. & T. Co., 


Dec. 27, 1839, 


$210,829 


Franklin Bank, 


- Dec. 28, 1839, 


58,342 


Lafayette Bank, 


Dec. 26, 1839, 


39,865 


Commercial Bank, - 


- Dec. 28, 1839, 


161,695 



Total, - - - - $470,731 



CINCINNATI. 313 

Thus it appears that the circulation of our four banks 
amounted, at the commencement of 1839, to $3,746,924; 
and at the close of that year to but $470,731, showing a 
reduction within that year of $3,276,193, the chief part of 
which must have been curtailed from the active business 
of the city. The fact that this immense amount was de- 
ducted in one year, from the business capital of the citjr, 
without producing bankruptcies, and the promptness with 
which the banks in so short a period redeemed nearly 
their whole circulation, form conclusive proofs that our 
money operations were based on a sound and healthy busi- 
ness, and that our mechanics and merchants sustain a high 
commercial character. 

Several causes have been already suggested, as conduc- 
ing to the stability with which this city has sustained 
itself during the general depression of business; another 
important reason will be now briefly alluded to. 

The business of Cincinnati is directed through so many 
channels, that the general prosperity is not readily affected 
by any single or sudden cause. The three great interests 
of commerce, manufactures, and the produce business, 
divide the wealth and industry of our citizens. It seldom 
happens that all these interests are paralysed at the same 
time, and when one of them is depressed, there, is usually 
a sustaining power remaining in the others. In this 
respect we differ from a mere manufacturing town, or 
from one depending chiefly on commerce, or on the trade 
in domestic produce. 

Cincinnati is undoubtedly the largest provision market 
in the world: the greatest mart for those raw productions 
of the soil which constitute the food of man and of do- 
mestic animals. The vast area of fertile country, of 
which it is the commercial metropolis, produces the great 
27 



314 CINCINNATI. 

Staples of wheat, Indian corn, rye, barley, oats and buck- 
wheat, together with hogs and cattle, in vast quantities, 
and of unsurpassed excellence. All these flow to our 
warehouses, and are here consumed, sold or shipped to 
distant markets, either in the crude state, or in the form of 
flour, meal,' beef, pork, bacon, lard, whisky, &c. But 
these are not all — and those who consider Cincinnati as 
merely a great pork and flour market, are greatly in error ; 
for such is the unlimited capacity of our soil for produc- 
tion, the geniality of our climate, and the consequent 
redundancy of the agricultural products, that our farmers 
are constantly invited to seek new articles for cultivation, 
and a market has been created here for those minor pro- 
ducts of the farm, which in some countries are consumed 
at home, and in others not produced. Potatoes, onions, 
beans, apples, dried fruits, butter, cheese, tallow, eggs, 
poultry, honey, beeswax, cider, feathers, hay — linseed, 
castor and lard oils — all, in short, of the numerous articles 
falling within the same category, are here, not merely in 
the daily market for the supply of our population, but in 
immense masses for exportation. We may mention, in 
illustration of this subject, that *eggs are exported from 
this city to New Orleans, to an amount exceeding one hun- 
dred thousand dollars per annum ; and of many other 
articles equally insignificant, the value of the shipments 

*Not long since, on board a steamboat on the Hudson river, the 
writer met a citizen of Cincinnati, returning from Boston, where 
he had been selling a large lot of fresh eggs. They were taken 
from Cincinnati, by canal and the lake, to Buffalo, and thence by 
railroad to Boston, where they were very profitably sold. When 
our railroad shall be finished, we shall supply our eastern friends 
with fresh beef, mutton, poultry, game, and many other luxuries 
for the table, in exchange for their fish and oysters. 



CINCINNATI. 315 

are proportionally great. Some of these articles do not 
appear in the reported lists of exports and imports, and 
others are very inadequately enumerated ; so that they are 
not usually taken into view, in forming an estimate of our 
business, of vi^hich they form, v^^hen summed up, a very 
imposing item. 

And, in this place, it may be proper to mention a great 
variety of small manufactures which are incidental to the 
produce market. Where four hundred and seventy- 
five thousand hogs, and a proportionable number of beef 
cattle, are slaughtered, cut up, and packed in a year, the 
offal, that is usually given away, or thrown away, becomes 
valuable from the largeness of the quantity, and all this is 
turned to account by-our enterprising citizens. Our hides 
are tanned, and our leather converted into saddlery, har- 
ness, trunks, and all the various fabrics of that material. 
Soap and candle manufactories absorb every particle of 
cheap matter containing grease. Our bristles are made 
into brushes ; hoofs, horns and bones are boiled down into 
glue; buttons, combs, various oils, and other articles too 
numerous to be specified, are fabricated by our ingenious 
workmen. So we have also our large manufactories of 
bread, biscuit, starch, salaratus, white lead, spirits, ale, 
porter, alcohol, acids, colors, and patent medicines. The 
list of these and of kindred fabrics, made at our nu- 
merous workshops, would be interminable; we make almost 
every thing, and without the fear of contradiction, claim 
to stand in the first rank of American manufacturing 
towns, as well from the variety and excellence of our 
fabrics, as from their aggregate annual value. 

The most important of our manufactories are those in 
iron, and other metals. Our founderies and engine shops 
employ nearly one thousand hands, and little less than a 



316 CINCINNATI. 

million of dollars capital. These are chiefly engaged in 
making engines and machinery to be used in steamboats, 
water works, mills, sugar making, cotton factories, &c. 
Our blacksmith shops employ several hundred hands, be- 
sides which we have a numerous body of cutlers, edge- 
tool makers, machinists, and gun-smiths. Distinct from 
those again, are our rolling mills, sheet iron workers, 
wire makers, and wire workers. Iron safes, balustrades, 
printing presses, locomotives, and fire engines, may be 
added — and still there would remain a vast list of fabrics 
of iron, '' such as no man can number," unless he is more 
familiar with the subject than we are. We have one es- 
tablishment, in which butt hinges, bolts, locks, and many 
other articles are most ingeniously made of cast iron, 
with a wonderful simplicity and beauty of workmanship. 
The manufacture of stoves is also deserving of separate 
mention — from the great quantity that are made, the va- 
riety of their uses and patterns, their excellence, and high 
finish. We have twenty establishments, at which three' 
tons of stoves are made per day, or one thousand tons per 
year — including every size and variety, from the largest 
cooking stoves, by which a dinner may be prepared for 
the ordinary of a hotel, down to the miniature afTair, 
whereby the shivering student may warm his closet with 
a handful of charcoal. They are made both of cast and 
sheet iron. The castings are remarkably light and 
smooth, and the patterns, continually varied and improved, 
are not excelled any where in beauty. Grates for burn- 
ing coal are also made here in large quantities, of every 
size and of the best finish and quality. The whole capi- 
tal employed in fabrics of iron is not less than $2,500,000. 
In other metals than iron, somewhat less than a million 
of capital is . employed by bell and brass founders, brit- 



CIINCINNATI. 317 

tannia ware factors, copper, brass, sheet iron, and tin plate 
workers, jewelers and silver smiths, lock makers, plum- 
bers, and type founders. 

Manufacturers in wood, such as ship carpenters, house 
and job carpenters, cabinet makers, chair makers, carriage 
makers, plane makers, picture frame and looking-glass 
makers, planing machines, turners, wagon and cart ma- 
kers, pump and block makers, &c., employ $2,500,000. 
The articles of furniture, chairs, carriages, wagons, ploughs, 
&c., made here, embrace a vast variety of costly, as well 
as useful fabrics, for exportation, made in the best style. 

Factories for spinning and weaving cotton, for making 
hempen bagging, and bale rope, carpets, oil cloth, coach 
lace and fringe, rope walks, dyeing establishments, fulling 
and carding machines, &c., are carried on upon a large 
scale, employing considerably over $500,000. A large 
cotton factory, erected within the last three years, with all 
the modern improvements in machinery, is one of the 
finest and most complete in the United States, and has 
been eminently successful. 

The manufacture and preparation of various drugs, 
paints, oils, acids, and chemicals, employs about $500,000 
of capital. 

Paper, books, newspapers, blank books, stationery, 
binding, band boxes, and wall paper, employ a manufactu- 
ring capital of $750,000. The publication of bibles, tes- 
taments, school books, and religious works, forms here an 
incredibly large business. These works are as Avell 
printed and got up as those of the eastern cities, and are 
sold as low. Within the last year, one hundred and forty 
thousand copies of an English grammer have been print- 
ed and sold in this city, and other school works in pro- 
portion. 



318 CINCINNATI. 

We have about ninety tailors, who employ between 
two and three hundred journeymen, besides one hundred 
slop shops and clothing stores, with nearly one thousand 
journeymen. These establishments are said to give em- 
ployment to nearly four thousand women, who sew at their 
own homes; and the annual products of their labor is said 
to amount to $1,500,000. 

Brewers, distillers, bakers, and confectioners, form 
another large class, employing many hands, and wielding 
a very considerable capital. 

If we include the packers of pork and beef, butchersj 
sausage makers, and millers, in the list of manufacturers, 
there would be added to this branch of industry, a capital 
of more than $5,000,000. 

We must close this account, by adding a miscellaneous 
list, such as hatters, and importers of hats, caps, and furs, 
and tobacconists, both of which branches are very largely 
carried on, employing together a capital of more than 
$500,090 — clock makers, glass cutters, jappanery, last and 
sparable factory, machine cards, stock and portable burr 
mill stones, malsters, printing ink maker, tallow renderer 
vinegar factory, powder mill, makers of matches, hooks 
and eyes, steel pens, diamond pointed pens, copper plate 
engravers, wood engravers, xylographic and lithographic 
printing, draughtsmen and designers, artists, mathematical, 
optical and philosophical instrument makers, surgical in- 
strument makers, medical instrument makers, stucco wor- 
kers, &c., &c., &c. 

All these, as we have elsewhere stated, were estimated 
in 1841, to amount to the annual value of $17,432,670; 
and as our population has increased since then from sixty 
thousand to one hundred thousand, and our business of 
all kinds has swelled even more largely, we may safely 



CINCINNATI. 319 

put our manufactureis down at from $25j000j000 to $30,- 
000,000. 

The commerce of Cincinnati, in its largest sense, would 
include all imports and exports, purchases and sales, as 
well of produce, and of raw materials for manufacture, 
as of the products of those branches; but it embraces also, 
in a stricter sense, importations and sales of dry goods, 
fancy goods, hardware, groceries, and a vast variety of 
merchandise, the growth or manufacture of other parts of 
the United States, or of foreign countries, which are dis- 
tributed here for the consumption of a vast area of coun- 
try around. It would be impossible to state the value of 
our commerce, separately from the other interests with 
which it is connected, unless the whole were reduced sys- 
tematically to figures — a very desirable work, which we 
hope will be undertaken by our Chamber of Commerce. 

We have adverted, in another place, to the favorable 
position of Cincinnati, as a point from which mechanical 
products may be distributed widely, and with unrivaled 
facility. The ease with which this place may be ap- 
proached from various directions, and its commanding po- 
sition in reference to the resources of the country, no 
doubt led to its selection as a military post, the head quar- 
ters of the army under several successive commanders, 
and its occupation by the earliest settlers as a place of resi- 
dence. It was, previously, a great crossing-place, used 
by the Indians, in passing over the Ohio, and several 
paths extending far into the interior, in different directions, 
centred here — a proof that the natural avenues, destined 
to become the arteries of commerce, and the channels 
for the intercourse of civilized society, flowed here spon- 
taneously. These have been judiciously improved, by the 
liberality of the state, and the enterprise of Cincinnati, in 



320 CINCINNATI. 

the construction of roads and canals, which, following the 
topographical indications, tend to this point, as to a com- 
mon centre. The same facility of intercourse which 
brings us so readily into contact with a vast agricultural 
region, as the natural emporium for the sale of their pro- 
ducts, enables us to distribute, with eminent advantage, the 
fabrics of our workshops, and the merchandise of foreign 
lands. 

We have, therefore, arrived at the position of a large 
wholesale emporium for foreign merchandise. Our ex- 
tensive jobbing and wholesale houses can now supply to 
country merchants complete assortments of dry goods, 
hardware, groceries, drugs, fancy goods, and most other 
articles of foreign growth or fabric, as cheaply as they 
can be purchased in the Atlantic cities. The stocks kept 
here are very large, and many of the goods are imported 
directly from foreign ports. 

The Western people are valuable customers. They 
live well, and buy liberally. They are able to enjoy, 
not only all the necessaries, but as many of the luxuries of 
life, as, are reasonably desirable. As a general rule they 
pay no rent, their civil burthens are light, and their fields 
produce abundantly. The farmers of this region have 
enjoyed an almost uninterrupted prosperity for many years. 
Their crops, that cost them little beyond their own labor, 
that grow while they sleep, as well as while they wake, 
and yield equally whether rule or misrule prevail in the 
state — have brought good prices ; and as the farmer sells 
for cash, the vicissitudes of commerce do not reach him di- 
rectly nor ruinously; — they may reduce his gains, but they 
cannot blight his fortunes. When banks and merchants 
break, he is safe. For years past, our farmers have been 
growing rich. Surrounded by abundance, they live com- 



CINCINNATI. 321 

fortably, yet they are sober, frugal, and in no respect ex- 
travagant. I doubt whether any other agricultural popu- 
lation in the world live so well, or exchange so large a 
portion of their earnings for the products of foreign lands, 
and the luxuries of life, without prodigality or dissipation. 
The market from which such a population draw their 
supplies, and to which they carry their produce, must ne- 
cessarily be large; and it must also be the centre for the 
deposit, exchange, and circulation of vast amounts of 
ready money. And this is true of Cincinnati, which is 
sustained not only by great enterprise and energy on the 
part of her own citizens; but by a very numerous, 
wealthy, and industrious, surrounding population. 

Nearly all our products for export, both agricultural 
and mechanical, are articles of common use and necessity, 
the demand for which is steady, and but little affected by 
the scarcity of money. Prices may be reduced, but our 
pork, beef, and flour — our fabrics of iron, wood, &c.j 
must always be in demand, because life cannot be sustained 
comfortably without them, and we can furnish them 
cheaper than others. Our mechanics are numerous, em- 
ploying a few hands each, and not using borrowed capital. 

We close this imperfect account of the business, and 
capacities for business, of our city, with the following de- 
tailed statement of its imports and exports for the year 
ending August 31, 1847, — extracted from the annual re- 
port to the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, by Mr. A. 
Peabody, superintendent of the Merchant's Exchange. 



With the end of August, 1847, terminated the first year of 
the existence of the Merchants' Exchange, under its present 
organization. 

This is, also, the first year in which an effort has been made 
to keep a full record of the commerce of the city, and although 
minor errors and omissions must necessarily result from the 
manner in which the facts relative to the river commerce are 
obtained, the omissions would not, to any important extent, af- 
fect the aggregate. Their influence, however, as far as it extends, 
is to lessen the exhibit of the trade of the city. 

Appended is a list, made up from the daily records at the Ex- 
change, of the aggregate receipts in Cincinnati, by river, canals, 
and railroad, for the year commencing September 1st, 1846, and 
ending, August 31st, 1847, inclusive. 



RECEIPTS. 



323 



RECEIPTS IN CINCINNATI, by River, Canals, and Rail- 
road, for the year commencing September 1st, 1846, and ending 
August 31st, 1847, inclusive. 





Quantity. 


Value. 


Amount. 


Breadstuffs — 








Flour, brls. 


512,506 


$2,111,624 72 




Corn meal, bush. 


56,775 


39,034 00 




Wheat, do 


590,809 


472,647 20 




Corn, do. 


896,258 


403,316 01 




Oats, do. 


372,127 


130,244 45 




Rye, do. 


41,016 


18,457 20 




Barley, do. 


79,394 


38,109 12 


$ 3,213,432 79 






Provisions — 








Beef, bbls. & tcs. 


191 


1,741 50 




Pork and bacon, hhds. 


5,476 






do. do. tcs. 


124 






do. do. . brls. 


40,581 






do. in bulk, lbs. 


8,027,399 


1,062,232 94 




Lard, brls. 


21,991 






do. kegs. 


22,722 


388,080 23 




Hogs, No. 


38,774 


310,192 00 




Tallow, brls. 


1,748 


40,680 00 


1,801,185 17 






Dairy Products — 








Butter, brls. 


6,345 






do. kegs. 


9,070 


185,302 50 




Cheese, casks. 


483 






do. bxs. 


120,301 


38,724 28 


224,026 78 






Fruits, Domestic — 








Apples (green) brls. 


26,992 


51,284 80 




Dried Fruits, bush. 


82,871 


62,153 25 




Lemons, (Foreign)bxs. 


2,185 


5,382 50 




Oranges, do. 


4,137 


12,411 00 




Raisins, do. 


11,990 


33,980 00 


165,211 55 






Naval Stores — 








Oakum, brls. 


1,100 


4,125 00 




Rosin, pitch &l tar, do. 


5,004 


15,012 00 


19,137 00 






Sundry Produce — 








Beans, brls. 


11,768 


35,304 00 




Bran, shorts, &cc. sks. 


14,594 


7,297 00 




Eggs, brls. 


3,561 


24,927 00 




Feathers, sks. 


2,767 


37,354 50 




Grease, brls. 


482 


5,422 00 




Hay, bis. 


7,049 


10,575 00 





324 



RECEIPTS. 





Quantity. 


Value. 


Amount. 


Sundry Produce — 








Hops, brls. 


1,064 


$18,620 00 




Malt, bush. 


12,562 


8,165 30 




Potatoes, brls. 


15,829 


12,663 00 




Seed, flax, brls. 


25,753 


77,259 00 




do. grass, brls. 


4,964 


49,640 00 


287,227 50 


Liquors, dis. and fer. 






Whiskey, brls. 


184,639 


1,361,328 60 




Cider, do. 


3,261 


8,152 50 




Sundry liquors, pps. &c. 


3,369 


421,125 00 




Wines, brls. &qr.cks. 


4,006 






do. bskts. and bxs. 


1,419 


124,435 00 


1,915,041 10 


Hides and Leather — 






Hides, No. 


24,376 


39,461 00 




do. lbs. 


7,513 


262 96 




Leather, bdls. 


5,069 


329,845 00 


369,208 96 






Metals — ■ 








Blooms, tons. 


2,017 


121,020 00 




Iron and steel, pes. 


188,125 






do. do. bdls. 


34,463 






do. do. tons. 


1,685 


641,864 50 




Pig Iron, tons. 


15,808 


474,240 00 




Lead, pigs. 


43,675 


107,003 75 




Nails, kegs 


54,918 


219,672 00 




Shot, do. 


1,118 


15,093 00 


1,578,893 25 






Sundries — 








Bagging, pes. 


5,561 


69,553 00 




Cooperage, do. 


186,186 


93,093 00 




Candles, bxs. 


207 


165,600 00 




Cotton, bis. 


12,528 


563,760 00 




Glass, bxs. 


18,002 


54,006 00 




Glassware, pkgs. 


17,121 


102,726 00 




Hemp, bis. 


26,678 


293,458 00 




Lime, brls. 


32,016 


24,012 00 




Oil, sundry, brls. 


5,563 


111,260 00 




Oilcake, 


2,225,988 


9,460 50 




Rope, twine, &c. pkgs. 


8,002 


40,010 00 




Salts, sacks. 


56,292 






do. brls. 


124,360 


212,724 00 




Tobacco, hhds. 


6,200 






do. brls. 


822 






do. bxs. & kegs. 


9,241 


442,320 00 




Wool, bales. 


2,960 


129,500 00 




Yarn, cotton, lbs. 


827,011 


140,591 87 


1,852,072 37 



RECEIPTS. 



325 





Uuantity. 


Value. 


Amount. 


Groceries — 








Coffee sacks, 


59,337 


$712,044 00 




Codfish, drms. 


292 


7,008 00 




Sundry fish, brls. 


18,836 






do. kegs & kits. 


2,142 


147,390 00 




Herrings, bxs. 


1,603 


801 50 




Molasses, brls. 


27,216 


326,595 00 




Pimento & pepper, bgs 


3,180 


39,750 00 




Rice, tcs. 


1,145 


34,350 00 




Sugar, hhds. 


16,669 






do. brls. 


7,196 






do. bxs. 


5,177 


1,503,072 00 




Tea, pkgs. 


4,443 


163,290 00 


2,934,300 50 






Merchandise — 








Sundry pkgs. 


263,944 






do. *tons. 


7,941 


34,335,400 00 


34,335,400 00 


In addition to the above 








there have arrived — 








Bark, cords. 


2,000 


18,000 00 




Coal, bush. 


2,600,00 


214,500 00 




Wood, cords. 


51,660 


180,810 00 




Building & grindstones 




10,000 00 




Sawed lumber, feet. 


40000000 


440,000 00 




Shingles, 


55000000 


123,750 00 




Logs, 




250,000 00 




Staves, 


3,512,000 


35,120 00 




Hoop poles, 


2,227,000 


24,497 00 




nrhis! amnnnt arlrlpri tn 






1,296,677 00 


the aggregate above make 






the entire receipts by pub- 








lic conveyance of articles 








embrac'd in the comm'rce 
and trade of the city, 












$49,991,833 97 


Among the receipts are 








shown 30,774 hogs^to this 








should be added 212,000 








head which arrived by 








land, worth, 




1,096,000 00 




Also, 9,300 beeves. 




232,500 00 





*The quantity of merchandise has been given in tons, only when the number 
of packages could not be ascertained. This item embraces all articles of gro- 
ceries, hardware, crockery, drugs, dry goods, and every description of goods 
not specifically mentioned. 



326 



EXPORTS. 



The EXPORTS OF THE CITY, for the year ending August 
31st, 1847, as shown by the daily records of the Exchange, were 
as follows: 





Quantity. 


Value. 


Amount. 


Breadstuffs — 










Flour, 


brls. 


581,920 


$2,5.38,626 00 




Corn meal, 


brls. 


88,882 


266,646 00 




Corn, 


sacks. 


258,198 


322,747 50 




Oats, 


sacks. 


140,067 


140,067 00 


$3,268,086 50 






Provisions — 










Beef, 


brls. 


10,367 






do. 


tcs. 


7,970 


200,898 00 




Pork & bacon, 


hhds. 


31,538 






do. do. 


brls. 


137,218 






do. do. 


tcs. 


7,894 






do. in bulk, 


lbs. 


3,478,856 


3,238,452 14 




Lard, 


brls. 


49,878 






do. 


kegs. 


150,823 


1,183,623 03 




Tallow, 


brls. 


4,543 


9,960 00 


4,632,033 17 






Live Stock — 










Beeves, 


head. 


872 


21,800 00 




Horses, 


do. 


2,026 


151,950 00 




Sheep, 


do. 


726 


1,452 00 


175,202 00 






Dairy Products— 


- 








Butter, 


brls. 


1,348 






do. 


kegs. 


31,194 


218,490 00 




Cheese, 


casks. 


1,132 






dot 


bxs. 


70,104 


215,612 01 


434,102 01 






Sundry Produce- 


- 








Apples (green) 


brls. 


14,444 


22,708 35 




Beans, 


brls. 


3,782 


11,346 00 




Bran, shorts, &c 


. sks. 


3,842 


1,920 00 




Dr'dap'ls& peach's bu 


16,077 


16,077 00 




Eggs, 


brls. 


10,308 


82,464 00 




Feathers, 


sks. 


4,100 


61,500 00 




Grease, 


brls. 


694 


8,328 00 




Hay, 


bis. 


357 


981 OO 




Potatoes, 


brls. 


34,130 


34,130 00 




Sund. veg. & fruits, brls.j 


17,879 


71,516 00 




Seed, flax. 


brls. 


291 


876 00 




do. grass, 


brls. 


3,967 


55,538 00 


367,384 35 






Liquors, distilled &fer'd| 








Whiskey, 


brls.j 


183,928 


1,361,067 20 





EXPORTS. 



327 



LiauoRS, distilled & fer'd 


Alcohol, 


brls. 


Sundry, embracing ci- 


der, beer, &c 


. brls. 


Metals — 




Iron, 


pes. 


do. 


bdls. 


do. 


tons. 


Sundries — 
Brooms, 


doz. 


Bagging, 


pieces. 


Candles, 


bxs. 


Cotton, 


bales. 


Cooperage, 


pieces. 


Hemp, 


bales. 


Hides, 


lbs. 


do. 


no. 


Lard oil, 


brls. 


Oil cake, 


tons. 


Rope, twine, &c 


. pkgs. 


Soap, 


bxs. 


Salt, 


brls. 


do. 


sacks. 


Tobacco, 


hhds. 


do. 


bxs. 


do. 


bales. 


Linseed oil, 


brls. 


Vinegar, 


brls. 


Wool, 


lbs. 


Sundry mdse.. 


pkgs. 


do. do. 


tons. 



Quantity. 



do. manufactures. 



Groceries — 
Coffee, 
Mok 
Sugar, 



sacks 
brls, 
hhds, 



Lumber, Coal & Coke- 



Boards, 

Lath, 

Shingles, 

Staves, 

Hoop poles. 

Coal, 

Grindstones, 



feet. 
no, 
do. 
do. 
do. 
bush. 



1,843 
7,198 



68,905 
9,389 
5,646 



5,408 
8,867 

16,662 
5,019 

42,121 

8,783 

164,930 

12,444 
6,199 
5,246 
8,723 

10,080 

65,346 

4,413 

6,011 

9,718 

277 

6,032 

3,884 

465,810 

234,951 

18,179 

22,261 



13,037 

9,046 

4,998 



2,300,000 

167,000 

8,630 

38,000 

398,000 

151,000 



&c. 



Value. 



$24,880 50 
251,930 00 



543,026 50 



8,112 00 
129,400 00 
104,137 50 
225,855 00 
42,121 00 
110,070 88 

29,929 70 



185,970 00 


157,380 00 


52,338 00 


30,240 00 


86,096 00 


390,700 00 


150,800 00 


12,623 00 


119,148 30 


42,250,975 00 


169,481 00 


117,598 00 


399,840 00 


25,300 00 


3,340 00 


19,418 00 


380 00 


4,378 00 


15,100 00 


5,150 00 



1,637,877 70 



543,026 50 



44,085,897 04 



686,919 00 



328 



EXPORTS. 



1 Quantity. 


Value. 


Amount, 


Coke and Bark— 

Coke, bush. 
Bark, cords. 


23,400 
218 


$4,680 00 
2,180 00 


79,926 GO 








$55,735,252 27 



The aggregate of imports and exports by public 
conveyance thus shown, amounts, it will be seen, 



$105,727,086 24 



to 

And this, increased by two items, (hogs and 
beeves,) which arrived by land, 1,328,500 00 

$107,055,586 24 
The amount and character of the tonnage, employed in the 
commerce of the city, will appear from the following: 

The number of steamboats arrived in the last year, 3,729 

Ditto of flatboats, 3,33G 

The freights of flatboats arrived, were as follows: 

Loads of wood, 1,636 

Do. coal, 466 

Do. of other articles, embracing Staves, Hooppoles, 
Bark, Stone, Stoneware, Lumber, Iron, Salt, Pro- 
duce, &c. 1,228 



Total, 3,330 

The number of flatboats which have departed from the city, 
laden with provisions and produce, is about 700 

About two-thirds of the receipts of wood (1,636 boatloads) are 
on boats which are towed back. Deducting these, and those for- 
warded with produce, leaves 1,800 boats to be otherwise disposed 
of, a large share of which are sold for lumber, and for this pur- 
pose sell, on an average, for about $20 each; those sold to be cov- 
ered and laden for the south bring higher rates, ranging from 
90 cents to $1 75 per foot, according to supply and demand, but 
generally below $i 25 — this year perhaps above. 

The average cost of a boat, covered suitably for a load of pro- 
duce, is about $2 25. 

In comparing the number and tonnage of steamboats built and 
registered here, during the last two years, commencing Septem- 
ber 1st and ending August 31st, a decided increase is manifest. 



In 1846-7, 
" 1845-6, 



Number, 32 
25 

Increase, 7 

END. 



Tonnage, 



8,268 
5,657 

2,611 



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